High reliability thin film transistors are important factors for next-generation displays. The reliability of transparent a-IGZO semiconductors is being actively studied for display applications. A plasma treatment can fill the oxygen vacancies in the channel layer and the channel layer/insulating layer interface so that the device can work stably under a bias voltage. This paper studies the effect of plasma treatment on the performance of a-IGZO TFT devices. The influence of different plasma gases on the electrical parameters of device and its working reliability are reviewed. The article mentions argon, fluorine, hydrogen and several ways of processing in the atmosphere. Among these methods, F (fluorine) plasma treatment can maximize equipment reliability. It is expected that the presented results will form a basis for further research to improve the reliability of a-IGZO TFT.

In this study, a TiO₂/TiO_2-x-based resistance variable memory was fabricated using a DC/RF magnetron sputtering system and ALD. In order to analyze the effect of oxygen plasma treatment on the performance of resistance random access memory (ReRAM), the TiO₂/TiO_2-x-based ReRAM was evaluated by applying RF power to the TiO_2-x oxygen-holding layer at 30, 60, 90, 120, and 150 W, respectively. The ReRAM was fabricated, and the electrical and surface area performances were compared and analyzed. In the case of ReRAM without oxygen plasma treatment, the I-V curve had a hysteresis curve shape, but the width was very small, with a relatively high surface roughness of the oxygen-retaining layer. However, in the case of oxygen plasma treatment, the HRS/LRS ratio for the I-V curve improved as the applied RF power increased; stable improvement was also noted in the surface roughness of the oxygen-retaining layer. It was confirmed that the low voltage drive was not smooth due to charge trapping in the oxygen diffusion barrier layer owing to the high intensity ReRAM applied with an RF power of approximately 150 W.

An 80 nm thick zinc aluminate thin film was deposited on a glass substrate via radio-frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering and heat treated to analyze changes in the wetting angles due to a surface modification. The thin films were modified from hydrophilic to hydrophobic by a simple thermal treatment. The surface modification from a heat treatment increased the wetting angles up to 111°, which was explained by the relationship with the excess surface area. The wetting angles of the annealed thin films decreased with increasing exposure time under ambient conditions, which was attributed to the oxygen vacancies in the films that were introduced during deposition. The annealed thin films were treated by ionized oxygen via oxygen plasma. After the oxygen plasma treatment, the decreased wetting angles were maintained at ~95° for 11 days.

Inductively coupled plasma (ICP) treatment with argon and a mixture of argon and oxygen gases has been used to modify the surface of polycarbonate (PC) substrates. The results showed that the surface contact angle was inversely proportional to the plasma discharge power and that the mixed-gas plasma (gas flow 10:10 sccm, discharge power 60 W) decreased the surface contact angle as low as 18.3°, indicating a large increase in the surface hydrophilicity. In addition, SnO₂ thin films deposited on the PC substrate effectively enhanced the ICP plasma treatment, and could also enhance the usefulness of PC in the inner parts of automobiles.

The effect of NH₃ plasma treatment on device characteristics was confirmed for an optimized thin film transistor of poly-Si formed by ELA. When C-V curve was checked for MIS (metal-insulator-silicon), Dit of NH₃ plasma treated and MIS was 2.7×10¹⁰ cm^-2eV^-1. Also in the TFT device case, it was decreased to the sub-threshold slope of 0.5 V/decade, 1.9 V of threshold voltage and improved in 26 cm²V^-1S^-1 of mobility. Si-N and Si-H bonding reduced dangling bonding to each interface. When gate bias stress was applied, the threshold voltage`s shift value of NH₃ plasma treated device was 0.58 V for 1,000s, 1.14 V for 3,600s, 1.12 V for 7,200s. As we observe from this quality, electrical stability was also improved and NH3 plasma treatment was considered effective for passivation.

The physical effects of H-plasma treatment on ZnO thin film have been studied using photoluminescence(PL) spectroscopy. Four characteristic peaks have been identified: (i) D0X peak (neutral donor-bound exciton), showing relatively small integrated intensity after H-plasma treatment, indicates that H-plasma passivates the neutral donors in ZnO at low temperatures. The rapid decrease in the integrated intensity of the peak as the temperature goes up is considered to be due to the ionization of neutral donors. (ii) H-related complex-bound exciton peak appears at the low temperatures (10 K∼80 K)after H-plasma treatment, showing the same thermal evolution as D0X peak. (iii) FX (free exciton) peak starts to show up at 60 K and grows more and more as the temperature goes up, which is considered to be related to the increase in free electron concentration in the film. (iv) violet band is intensified after H-plasma, which means more defects and impurities are generated by H-plasma process.

This study is explore the photoelectric conversion change of dye-sensitized solar cells with surface treatment of the conductive substrate. gases of FTO surface treatment were N2, and O2. Treatment conditions of surface were gas flux from 25 sccm to 50 sccm and RF power were from 25 W to 50 W. Treatment time and pressure were fixed 5 min and 100 mtoor. The best sheet resistance and surface roughness were obtained by O2 50 sccm and 50 W and that result were 7.643 Ω/㎠ and 17.113 nm, respectively. The best efficiency result was obtained by O2 50 sccm and 50 W and that result of Voc, Jsc, FF and efficiency were 7.03 V, 14.88 mA/㎠, 63.75% and 6.67%, respectively.

The optical properties of ZnO thin film, being treated by O-plasma, have been studied using Photoluminescence(PL) spectroscopy with the change of temperature from 10 K to 290 K. Two characteristic peaks were identified at 10 K:3.357 eV(DoX) and 3.324 eV(TES). The peak of DoX is believed to be due to neutral donor bound excitons where the donor is in the ground state. However, the TES(Two Electron Satellite) peak indicates the excited state of the donor(excitation energy was ~30 meV). The donor binding energy was estimated to be 44 meV, which indicates the possible presence of the neutral donor bound excitons at RT. The thermal effect including thermal broadening was identified from temperature evolution of the spectrum. Both the peak intensity and the peak energy have decreased as the temperature increases. As the temperature approaches to RT, the two peak merges into one broad peak, which is considered a combination of multiple peaks having different physical origins.

We optimize electrical and optical properties of thermal and SF6 plasma treated indium tin oxide (ITO)/Al based reflector for high-power ultraviolet (UV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs). After thermal and SF6 plasma treatments of ITO/Al reflector, the specific contact resistance decreased from 1.04×10(-3) Ω·cm2 to 9.12×10(-4) Ω·cm2, while the reflectance increased from 58% to 70% at the 365 nm wavelength. The low resistance and high reflectance of ITO/Al reflector are attributed to the reduced Schottky barrier height (SBH) between the ITO and AlGaN by large electronegativity of fluorine species and reduced interface roughness between the ITO and Al, respectively.

The characteristic changes in ZnO thin film according to H- and O- plasma treatments have been studied by Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy at room temperature. The red shift of UV peak by 20-30 meV in PL spectra after plasma treatments is identified, which indicates that there are changes in the binding energy of bound exciton and/or the movement of energy levels of lattice defects and impurities. The width of UV peak is decreased after plasma treatments, which is believed to be closely related to the crystal quality of ZnO film. The increase of UV peak intensity after H-plasma treatment is also observed, and this could mean that the radiative recombination is strengthened because the hydrogen atoms in the plasma diffuse into the film where they passivate and neutralize the defects and the impurities.