  High throughput experimental methods are known to accelerate the rate of
research, development, and deployment of electronic materials. For example,
thin films with lateral gradients in composition, thickness, or other
parameters have been used alongside spatially-resolved characterization to
assess how various physical factors affect material properties under varying
measurement conditions. Similarly, multi-layer electronic devices that contain
such graded thin films as one or more of their layers can also be characterized
spatially in order to optimize the performance. In this work, we apply these
high throughput experimental methods to thin film transistors (TFTs),
demonstrating combinatorial device fabrication and semi-automated
characterization using sputtered Indium-Gallium-Zinc-Oxide (IGZO) TFTs as a
case study. We show that both extrinsic and intrinsic types of device gradients
can be generated in a TFT library, such as channel thickness and length,
channel cation compositions, and oxygen atmosphere during deposition. We also
present a semi-automated method to measure the 44 devices fabricated on a
50x50mm substrate that can help to identify properly functioning TFTs in the
library and finish the measurement in a short time. Finally, we propose a fully
automated characterization system for similar TFT libraries, which can be
coupled with high throughput data analysis. These results demonstrate that high
throughput methods can accelerate the investigation of TFTs and other
electronic devices.
