Metal oxide film and semiconductor device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11063125-B2
Application number	US-202016739647-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 10, 2020
Priority date	Dec 29, 2015
Publication date	Jul 13, 2021
Grant date	Jul 13, 2021

Abstract

A metal oxide film includes indium, M, (M is Al, Ga, Y, or Sn), and zinc and includes a region where a peak having a diffraction intensity derived from a crystal structure is observed by X-ray diffraction in the direction perpendicular to the film surface. Moreover, a plurality of crystal parts is observed in a transmission electron microscope image in the direction perpendicular to the film surface. The proportion of a region other than the crystal parts is higher than or equal to 20% and lower than or equal to 60%.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A display device comprising:
a gate electrode over a substrate;
a gate insulating layer over the gate electrode; and
an oxide semiconductor layer over the gate insulating layer;
wherein the oxide semiconductor layer comprises indium, an element M, and zinc,
wherein the element M is Al, Ga, Y, or Sn,
wherein a plurality of crystal parts is observed in a transmission electron microscope image in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the oxide semiconductor layer, and
wherein a proportion of a region other than the plurality of crystal parts is higher than or equal to 20% and lower than or equal to 60%.

2. The display device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of crystal parts has a higher proportion of crystal parts in which c-axes are aligned in a thickness direction of the oxide semiconductor layer than crystal parts aligned in other directions.

3. The display device according to claim 1 ,
wherein a first image is an image obtained by subjecting a cross-sectional TEM image to fast Fourier transform,
wherein a second image is obtained by subjecting the first image to inverse fast Fourier transform after mask treatment by which a periodic region remains,
wherein in the second image, the proportion of the remaining area subtracted from an original image is more than or equal to 20% and less than 60%.

4. The display device according to claim 1 , wherein the proportion of the region other than the plurality of crystal parts is higher than or equal to 30% and lower than or equal to 50%.

5. The display device according to claim 1 , further comprising a first insulating film,
wherein the first insulating film is in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer, and
wherein the first insulating film is configured to release oxygen by heat treatment in a manufacturing process.

6. The display device according to claim 1 ,
wherein when electron diffraction with a probe diameter of 50 nm or more is performed on a slice of the oxide semiconductor layer having a thickness of greater than or equal to 10 nm and less than or equal to 50 nm in the direction perpendicular to its cross section, a first electron diffraction pattern that includes a ring-like diffraction pattern and two first spots overlapping with the ring-like diffraction pattern is observed, and
wherein when electron diffraction with a probe diameter of greater than or equal to 0.3 nm and less than or equal to 5 nm is performed thereon, a second electron diffraction pattern that includes the two first spots and a plurality of second spots distributed in a circumferential direction is observed.

7. The display device according to claim 6 ,
wherein the two first spots are symmetric with respect to a center,
wherein an angle between a first straight line and the direction of a normal vector of the surface of the oxide semiconductor layer is more than or equal to 0° and less than or equal to 10°, and
wherein the first straight line passes through the center and a point at which a luminance of the two first spots is the highest.

8. The display device according to claim 7 ,
wherein in the first electron diffraction pattern, the luminance of the ring-like diffraction pattern is lower than that of the two first spots at a point of intersection of the ring-like diffraction pattern and a second straight line that intersects with the first straight line.

9. The display device according to claim 8 ,
wherein the luminance of the two first spots is greater than 1 time and less than or equal to 9 times the luminance of the ring-like diffraction pattern at the point of intersection of the ring-like diffraction pattern and the second straight line.

10. A display device comprising:
a pixel over a substrate,
wherein the pixel comprises a first transistor, a second transistor, and a capacitor,
wherein one of a source electrode and a drain electrode of the first transistor is electrically connected to a gate electrode of the second transistor and a first electrode of the capacitor,
wherein the first transistor comprises:
a gate electrode over the substrate;
an oxide semiconductor layer over the substrate;
a gate insulating layer between the gate electrode of the first transistor and the oxide semiconductor layer;

wherein the oxide semiconductor layer comprises indium, an element M, and zinc,
wherein the element M is Al, Ga, Y, or Sn,
wherein a plurality of crystal parts is observed in a transmission electron microscope image in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the oxide semiconductor layer, and
wherein a proportion of a region other than the plurality of crystal parts is higher than or equal to 20% and lower than or equal to 60%.

11. The display device according to claim 10 , wherein the proportion of the region other than the plurality of crystal parts is higher than or equal to 30% and lower than or equal to 50%.

12. The display device according to claim 10 , further comprising a first insulating film,
wherein the first insulating film is in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer, and
wherein the first insulating film is configured to release oxygen by heat treatment in a manufacturing process.

13. A metal oxide film comprising:
indium;
M which is Al, Ga, Y, or Sn; and
zinc,
wherein a proportion of a region other than a plurality of crystal parts is higher than or equal to 20% and lower than or equal to 60%.

14. The metal oxide film according to claim 13 ,
wherein a peak having a diffraction intensity derived from a crystal structure is observed by X-ray diffraction in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the metal oxide film.

Assignees

• Semiconductor Energy Lab

Inventors

• Hosaka Yasuharu
• Obonai Toshimitsu
• Shima Yukinori
• Jintyou Masami
• Kurosaki Daisuke
• Hamochi Takashi
• Koezuka Junichi
• Okazaki Kenichi
• Yamazaki Shunpei

Classifications

• H10D86/411

  characterised by materials, geometry or structure of the substrates · CPC title

• H10D86/60

  wherein the TFTs are in active matrices · CPC title

• C23C14/34

  Sputtering · CPC title

• H10D62/875

  being semiconductor metal oxide, e.g. InGaZnO (Group II-VI materials H10D62/86; Group I-VI materials H10D62/871; Pb compounds or alloys H10D62/874) · CPC title

• H10D64/691

  comprising metallic compounds, e.g. metal oxides or metal silicates  (insulators comprising nitrogen H10D64/693) · CPC title