Significant Degradation Reduction in Metal Oxide Thin-Film Transistors via the Interaction of Ionized Oxygen Vacancy Redistribution, Self-Heating Effect, and Hot Carrier Effect

In this work, device degradation of metal oxide (MO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) under positive bias stress, linear stress, and saturation stress is systematically investigated. A significant degradation reduction in InGaZnO TFTs is observed for the first time under saturation stress. Incorporated with electric field simulations and temperature simulations, a degradation model, considering the interaction of ionized oxygen vacancy redistribution, self-heating effect, and hot carrier effect, is tentatively proposed to understand the degradation behaviors under various stress combinations. Moreover, a similar degradation reduction phenomenon is also reproduced in InSnZnO TFTs, demonstrating the applicability of the proposed degradation model in MO TFTs.