Effect of mechanical-strain-induced defect generation on the performance of flexible amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O thin-film transistors

In this study, we investigate the effect of mechanical strain on the performance of flexible amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O (a-.InGaZnO) thin-film transistors. Drain current-gate voltage (ID-VG) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) transfer curves are measured to analyze the degradation behavior. The ID-VG characteristic exhibits a clear negative shift under mechanical strain regardless of the tension or compression state. In addition, the C-V characteristic curves show a leftward shift with extra distortion or stretching out under mechanical strain. This indicates that InGaZnO generates additional defects under this mechanical strain, a phenomenon that can be attributed to the generation of mechanical-strain-induced oxygen vacancies on the flexible a-InGaZnO TFTs. (C) 2016 The Japan Society of Applied Physics.