Modulation of aqueous precursor solution temperature for the fabrication of high-performance metal oxide thin-film transistors

In this study, we present a simple process for the fabrication of aqueous-solution-processed metal oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) via the manipulation of precursor solution temperature. Indium oxide TFTs fabricated from a solution of indium nitrate at 4 °C exhibited the highest mobility of 2.73 cm2/(V·s) at an annealing temperature of 200 °C. When the temperature of the metal oxide precursor solution is 4 °C, metal cations within the solution can be fully surrounded by H2O molecules owing to the high dielectric constant of H2O at low temperatures. These metal complexes are advantageous for the conversion of metal oxides via thermally driven hydrolysis and condensation processes due to their high potential energies. The same techniques have been applied successfully with high-order metal oxides including indium zinc oxide, indium gallium oxide, and indium gallium zinc oxide.