Semiconductor film and semiconductor device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9829533-B2
Application number	US-201414196281-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 4, 2014
Priority date	Mar 6, 2013
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

Abstract

An oxide semiconductor film having high stability with respect to light irradiation or a semiconductor device having high stability with respect to light irradiation is provided. One embodiment of the present invention is a semiconductor film including an oxide in which light absorption is observed by a constant photocurrent method (CPM) in a wavelength range of 400 nm to 800 nm, and in which an absorption coefficient of a defect level, which is obtained by removing light absorption due to a band tail from the light absorption, is lower than or equal to 5×10 −2 /cm. Alternatively, a semiconductor device is manufactured using the semiconductor film.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A semiconductor device comprising:
a first electrode layer;
an insulating film in contact with the first electrode layer;
an oxide semiconductor layer overlapping with the first electrode layer with the insulating film provided therebetween; and
a second electrode layer in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer,
wherein light absorption of the oxide semiconductor layer is observed by a constant photocurrent method in a wavelength range of 400 nm to 800 nm,
wherein an absorption coefficient of a defect level, which is obtained by removing light absorption due to a band tail from the light absorption, is lower than or equal to 5×10 −2 /cm, and
wherein the oxide semiconductor layer comprises a multilayer film.

2. The semiconductor device according to claim 1 , wherein the oxide semiconductor layer comprises a crystal part whose c-axis is substantially perpendicular to a surface of the oxide semiconductor layer.

3. The semiconductor device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the oxide semiconductor layer is an In-M-Zn oxide, and
wherein M is any one of Al, Ti, Ga, Y, Zr, La, Ce, Nd, and Hf.

4. A semiconductor device comprising:
a gate electrode layer;
a gate insulating film in contact with the gate electrode layer;
an oxide semiconductor layer overlapping with the gate electrode layer with the gate insulating film provided therebetween; and
a source electrode layer and a drain electrode layer in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer,
wherein light absorption of the oxide semiconductor layer is observed by a constant photocurrent method in a wavelength range of 400 nm to 800 nm,
wherein an absorption coefficient of a defect level, which is obtained by removing light absorption due to a band tail from the light absorption, is lower than or equal to 5×10 −2 /cm, and
wherein the oxide semiconductor layer is a multilayer film in which a first oxide semiconductor layer, a second oxide semiconductor layer, and a third oxide semiconductor layer are stacked in this order.

5. The semiconductor device according to claim 4 , wherein the oxide semiconductor layer comprises a crystal part whose c-axis is substantially perpendicular to a surface of the oxide semiconductor layer.

6. The semiconductor device according to claim 4 ,
wherein the oxide semiconductor layer is an In-M-Zn oxide, and
wherein M is any one of Al, Ti, Ga, Y, Zr, La, Ce, Nd, and Hf.

7. The semiconductor device according to claim 4 ,
wherein an energy difference between an energy at the bottom of a conduction band of the first oxide semiconductor layer and an energy at the bottom of a conduction band of the second oxide semiconductor layer is greater than or equal to 0.05 eV and less than or equal to 2 eV, and
wherein an energy gap between an energy at the bottom of a conduction band of the third oxide semiconductor layer and the energy at the bottom of the conduction band of the second oxide semiconductor layer is greater than or equal to 0.05 eV and less than or equal to 2 eV.

8. The semiconductor device according to claim 4 , wherein the second oxide semiconductor layer comprises a crystal part whose c-axis is substantially perpendicular to a surface of the second oxide semiconductor layer.

9. The semiconductor device according to claim 4 ,
wherein the first to third oxide semiconductor layers are each an In-M-Zn oxide,
wherein M is any one of Al, Ti, Ga, Y, Zr, La, Ce, Nd, and Hf, and
wherein an atomic ratio of M to In in each of the first oxide semiconductor layer and the third oxide semiconductor layer is larger than an atomic ratio of M to In in the second oxide semiconductor layer.

10. The semiconductor device according to claim 4 ,
wherein each of the source electrode layer and the drain electrode layer comprises a first electrode layer and a second electrode layer over the first electrode layer, and
wherein the second electrode layer is in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer in a region in which the gate electrode layer overlaps with the oxide semiconductor layer.

11. The semiconductor device according to claim 4 ,
wherein the oxide semiconductor layer has a first region between the source electrode layer and the drain electrode layer, and a second region which overlaps with the source electrode layer or the drain electrode layer, and
wherein a thickness of the oxide semiconductor layer in the first region is smaller than a thickness of the oxide semiconductor layer in the second region.

12. The semiconductor device according to claim 4 , further comprising:
a protective film,
wherein the protective film is provided in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer, and
wherein the oxide semiconductor layer is provided between the gate electrode layer and the protective film.

13. The semiconductor device according to claim 4 is a transistor configured to be in an off-state when voltage applied to the gate electrode layer is 0.

Assignees

• Semiconductor Energy Lab

Inventors

• Tsubuku Masashi
• Watanabe Ryosuke

Classifications

• H10P74/207

  Electrical properties, e.g. testing or measuring of resistance, deep levels or capacitance-voltage characteristics · CPC title

• H10P74/203

  Structural properties, e.g. testing or measuring thicknesses, line widths, warpage, bond strengths or physical defects · CPC title

• H10P14/3434

  being oxide semiconductor materials (Group IIB-VIA semiconductor materials H10P14/3424) · CPC title

• H10P14/3426

  Oxides · CPC title

• H10P14/3238

  being insulating materials · CPC title