Solid-State Laser Annealing (SLA) of Fully Solution-Processed Amorphous InZnO Thin-Film Transistors at Various Fluence

Advancing next-generation metal oxide thin film technologies demands the exploration of novel treatments for active materials. These treatments need to be processed via simple and cost-effective methods and low-temperature techniques to ensure compatibility with flexible substrates that are sensitive to high-temperature (>400 °C) annealing processes. To solve this problem, photoirradiation approaches on the active layers, such as ultraviolet treatment or excimer laser annealing (ELA), have been discovered as alternatives to conventional annealing techniques. The state-of-the-art ELA is limited primarily by its high-cost maintenance. Thus, we present an alternative photo-assisted approach to functionalize the amorphous Indium Zinc Oxide (a-IZO) films by employing solid-state laser annealing (SLA) post-treatment as an inexpensive option instead of the costly ELA process. The SLA approach can functionalize the a-IZO film to improve its film conductivity and function as the gate, source, and drain electrodes. After SLA post-treatment, a-IZO TFTs exhibited switching behavior with saturation mobility (<i>μ</i> _sat) up to 0.98 cm² V^-1 s^-1 and an on-off current ratio >10⁶ at drain voltage, <i>V</i> _d = 5.0 V. Therefore, this method holds the potential to serve as a viable alternative to the traditional annealing process or costly ELA technique with further refinement, especially for application in flexible devices.