Microwave photoconductivity decay (µ-PCD) method was applied to evaluate the effects of chemical composition and Ar⁺ plasma induced damage on the bulk and the surface states in amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O (a-IGZO) films. It was found that the peak reflectivity signal in the photoconductivity response increased with decreasing the Ga content, and had a strong correlation with the a-IGZO transistor performances. In addition, the peak reflectivity signals obtained after various Ar⁺ plasma treatment duration were well correlated with the transistor characteristics. With Ar⁺ plasma treatment, the peak reflectivity signal decreased in accordance with degradation of transistor characteristics. The µ-PCD method was found to be a very useful tool not only to evaluate the bulk and the surface states, but also to predict the performance of a-IGZO transistors subjected to various plasma processes in the production.