By inserting $H_2O$ treatment steps during atomic layer deposition of a ZnO layer, the turn-on voltage shift from negative bias stress (NBS) under illumination was reduced considerably compared to that of a device that has a continuously grown ZnO layer without any treatment steps. Meanwhile, treatment steps without introducing reactive gases, and simply staying under a low working pressure, aggravated the instability under illuminated NBS due to an increase of oxygen vacancy concentration in the ZnO layer. From the experiment results, additional oxidation of the ZnO channel layer is proven to be effective in improving the stability against illuminated NBS.