We found that high pressure assisted annealing with water vapor (HPV) is effective for improving the field effect mobility of amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin film transistors (TFTs). The HPV-annealed TFTs exhibited better performance in field effect mobility compared with dry annealing under atmospheric pressure. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) analysis revealed that the hydrogen content increased through the whole a-IGZO film, despite the oxygen content increasing only within 20 nm depth from the a-IGZO surface. Consequently, hydrogen can affect front channel components and improve the field effect mobility of TFTs. (c) 2014 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.