High-Stability IWO Thin-Film Transistors under Microwave Annealing for Low Thermal Budget Application

In this work, we investigated the effects of microwave thermal annealing (MWA) on the electrical performance and stability of Indium-Tungsten-Oxide (IWO) thin-film transistors (TFTs). Under MWA treatment at 600 W, the IWO-TFTs exhibited a subthreshold swing (SS) of 144 mV/dec and a threshold voltage (VT) of 0.9 V, demonstrating superior resistance to stress-induced degradation. The TFTs treated with MWA displayed enhanced performance compared to the as-fabricated ones in bias stress stability. As a result, MWA showed significant potential for repairing defects through post-deposition annealing with a reduced thermal budget, thereby presenting a promising application for developing back-end-of-line (BEOL) compatible oxide semiconductor technology.