Record mobility in transparent p-type tin monoxide films and devices by phase engineering

Here, we report the fabrication of nanoscale (15 nm) fully transparent p-type SnO thin film transistors (TFT) at temperatures as low as 180 C with record device performance. Specifically, by carefully controlling the process conditions, we have developed SnO thin films with a Hall mobility of 18.71 cm2 V-1 s-1 and fabricated TFT devices with a linear field-effect mobility of 6.75 cm2 V-1 s -1 and 5.87 cm2 V-1 s-1 on transparent rigid and translucent flexible substrates, respectively. These values of mobility are the highest reported to date for any p-type oxide processed at this low temperature. We further demonstrate that this high mobility is realized by careful phase engineering. Specifically, we show that phase-pure SnO is not necessarily the highest mobility phase; instead, well-controlled amounts of residual metallic tin are shown to substantially increase the hole mobility. A detailed phase stability map for physical vapor deposition of nanoscale SnO is constructed for the first time for this p-type oxide. © 2013 American Chemical Society.