Preparation and sintering of indium–gallium–zinc oxide ceramics with different zinc oxide contents

Amorphous IGZO film has been extensively used as the channel layer of thin-film transistors. To investigate the IGZO sputtering targets, the effects of sintering temperatures on the sintering, microstructure, and electrical properties of IGZO ceramics with In2O3:Ga2O3:ZnO mole percentages of 1:1:1 (IGZO-111) and 1:1:2 (IGZO-112) were studied. In IGZO-111 ceramics, the In2O3 and ZnGa2O4 phases are completely replaced by In2Ga2ZnO7 and InGaZnO4 phases when the sintering temperature is increased from 1300 °C to 1400 °C. Moreover, the crystal structure of IGZO-112 ceramic is a single phase of InGaZnO4, and no phase transformation occurs between 1200 °C and 1500 °C. The optimum relative densities of IGZO-111 and IGZO-112 ceramics are 99.8% and 99.0%, respectively. After 1500 °C sintering, the resistivities of IGZO-111 and IGZO-112 ceramics are 1.5 × 10−3 Ωcm and 2.5 × 10−3 Ωcm, respectively. The properties of IGZO ceramics are comparable to those of AZO and GZO ceramics reported in the literature.