Fabrication and electrical characteristics of Li-N co-doped InZnO TFTs prepared by radio frequency magnetron

•Li-N co-doped IZO film for the active channel of TFT is proposed.•IZO:(Li,N) films have been deposited by introducing Zn3N2 and Li2O in the target.•IZO:(Li,N) TFTs show high mobility (39.2 cm2/V s) and on/off ratio (3.9 × 107).

The preparation and electrical characteristics of bottom-gate Li-N co-doped InZnO (IZO) thin film transistors (TFTs) were studied in this paper. Li-N co-doped IZO thin films were deposited on SiO2/Si substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering (RFMS) as an active channel layer at room temperature. The transmittance of the film was over 85% in the visible region after annealing. XRD analysis of the films was performed to investigate the crystallinity of the films. SIMS was also carried out to investigate the distribution of species in IZO:(Li,N) films. The obtained TFTs operate in the enhancement mode with a threshold voltage VTH of 8.9 V, the saturation mobility μSAT of 39.2 cm2/V s, and an on/off current ratio of 3.9 × 107. Our results demonstrate the doping mechanism of Li-N co-doped IZO films and achieve high-performance IZO-based TFTs.