Role of lone-pair electrons in Sb-doped amorphous InGaZnO4: Suppression of the hole-induced lattice instability

Abstract

Transparent amorphous oxide semiconductors (TAOS's) are of practical importance for applications including oxide electronics and displays. Here we show the lone-pair s-electrons incorporated by for example Sb-doping can suppress the hole-induced lattice instability, which has been a major obstacle to commercial application of the TAOS-based thin film transistors. The Sb(III)-O sp sigma* hybridization in the top-most valence states makes the lone-pair s-electrons to capture the excited holes, the Sb(V)O-6 octahedral bonding configuration by which formed is easily dissociated into the stable lone-pair Sb(III) state by recapturing conduction electrons. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4801931]