Flexible organic thin film transistors with self-assembled benzimidazole-copper complex as gate insulator

Abstract

A self-assembled benzimidazole-copper complex (SABCC) is utilized as the gate insulating material for pentacene organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) fabricated on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate plastic substrate. The fabrication features of SABCC are self-assembling, water-based processing, and selectivity of deposition. The pentacene OTFTs exhibit reasonable device characteristics. Threshold voltage, carrier mobility, on/off current ratio, and subthreshold swing are determined to be ∼−4.2 V, ∼0.08 cm2 V−1 s−1, ∼4×103, and ∼4.4 V/decade, respectively. The water-based fabrication process of the SABCC gate insulator on copper electrodes may provide an opportunity for low cost OTFTs on flexible plastic substrates.