Perspective of zinc oxide based thin film transistors: a comprehensive review

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive review on development and future trends in zinc oxide thin film transistors (ZnO TFTs). This paper presents the development of TFT technology starting from amorphous silicon, poly-Si to ZnO TFTs. This paper also discusses about transport and device modeling of ZnO TFT and provides a comparative analysis with other TFTs on the basis of performance parameters. Design/methodology/approach It highlights the need of high–k dielectrics for low leakage and low threshold voltage in ZnO TFTs. This paper also explains the effect of grain boundaries, trap densities and threshold voltage shift on the performance of ZnO TFT. Moreover, it also addresses the challenges like requirement of stable p-type ZnO semiconductor for various electronic applications and high value of ZnO mobility to meet growing demand of high-definition light emitting diode TV (HD-LED TV). Findings This review will motivate the readers to further investigate the conduction mechanism, best alternate for gate-dielectric and the deposition technique optimization for the enhancement of the performance of ZnO TFTs. Originality/value This is a literature review. The technological evolution of TFT in general and ZnO TFT in particular is presented in this paper.