Rapid laser-induced photochemical conversion of sol–gel precursors to In 2 O 3 layers and their application in thin-film transistors

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. C, Materials for optical and electronic devices Materials for optical and electronic devices, 2017, Vol.5 (15), p.3673-3677
• Main Authors: Dellis, Spilios, Isakov, Ivan, Kalfagiannis, Nikolaos, Tetzner, Kornelius, Anthopoulos, Thomas D., Koutsogeorgis, Demosthenes C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2050-7526; 2050-7534
• DOI: 10.1039/C7TC00169J

We report the development of indium oxide (In 2 O 3 ) transistors via a single step laser-induced photochemical conversion process of a sol–gel metal oxide precursor. Through careful optimization of the laser annealing conditions we demonstrated successful conversion of the precursor to In 2 O 3 and its subsequent implementation in n-channel transistors with electron mobility up to 13 cm 2 V −1 s −1 . Importantly, the process does not require thermal annealing making it compatible with temperature sensitive materials such as plastic. On the other hand, the spatial conversion/densification of the sol–gel layer eliminates additional process steps associated with semiconductor patterning and hence significantly reduces fabrication complexity and cost. Our work demonstrates unambiguously that laser-induced photochemical conversion of sol–gel metal oxide precursors can be rapid and suitable for the manufacturing of large-area electronics.