Flexible Thin-film Transistors Research Articles

Parylene-C-based flexible organic thin-film transistors and their reliability improvement using SU-8 passivation

Flexible and biocompatible organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) can be well-suited for biological applications due to their compatibility with biomaterials. In this study, flexible OTFTs were fabricated with a Parylene-C substrate and gate dielectric, a material known for its flexibility and biocompatibility. We used poly[2,5-bis(3-tetradecylthiophen-2-yl)thieno[3,2-b]thiophene] as organic channel material. To ensure the longevity and protection of the channel, SU-8, known for its biocompatibility and transparency, effectively safeguarded the OTFT and ensured its sustained operation. Flexible OTFTs were affixed to a curved fixture, referred to as a “curved condition.” The device parameters at −20 V of VD in the curved condition shows an Ion/off ratio of 3.5 × 104, threshold voltage (VTH) of −0.42 V, and mobility of 0.003 cm2/V s. The Parylene-C-based OTFT with SU-8 passivation demonstrated reliability by maintaining performance under curved conditions for 40 days. The results show that the proposed device is suitable for flexible electronics and sensor applications.

High-sensitivity and energy-efficient chloride ion sensors based on flexible printed carbon nanotube thin-film transistors for wearable electronics

The advent of flexible single-walled carbon nanotube thin-film transistors (SWCNT-TFTs) has transformed electronics, providing significant benefits like low operating voltage, reduced power consumption, cost-effectiveness, and improved signal amplification. This study focuses on leveraging these attributes to develop a novel flexible high-sensitivity and energy-efficient chloride ion sensors based on printed flexible SWCNT-TFTs utilizing polymers-sorted semiconducting SWCNTs (sc-SWCNTs) as the active layers and ion liquids-poly(4-vinylphenol as dielectric layers along with the evaporated deposition of aluminum electrodes and printed silver electrodes as the gate and source-drain electrodes, respectively. The sensors exhibit several operational advantages, including low voltage requirements (≤1 V), rapid response speed (5.32 s), significant signal amplification (Up to 702.6%), low power consumption (0.31 μJ at 1 mmol chloride ion), good repeatability, high sensitivity for both low and high concentrations of chloride ion (up to 100 mmol/L) and excellent mechanical flexibility (No obvious changes after bending for 10,000 times with a 5 mm radius). The detection mechanism of chloride ions was analyzed using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). It was found that chloride ions react with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to form silver chloride (AgCl) on printed electrodes, impeding carrier transport and reducing the currents in SWCNT TFTs. Importantly, our sensors' compatibility with smart devices allows for real-time monitoring of chloride ion levels in human sweat, offering significant potential for daily health monitoring.

Biomimetic wafer-scale alignment of tellurium nanowires for high-mobility flexible and stretchable electronics.

Flexible and stretchable thin-film transistors (TFTs) are crucial in skin-like electronics for wearable and implantable applications. Such electronics are usually constrained in performance owing to a lack of high-mobility and stretchable semiconducting channels. Tellurium, a rising semiconductor with superior charge carrier mobilities, has been limited by its intrinsic brittleness and anisotropy. Here, we achieve highly oriented arrays of tellurium nanowires (TeNWs) on various substrates with wafer-scale scalability by a facile lock-and-shear strategy. Such an assembly approach mimics the alignment process of the trailing tentacles of a swimming jellyfish. We further apply these TeNW arrays in high-mobility TFTs and logic gates with improved flexibility and stretchability. More specifically, mobilities over 100 square centimeters per volt per second and on/off ratios of ~104 are achieved in TeNW-TFTs. The TeNW-TFTs on polyethylene terephthalate can sustain an omnidirectional bending strain of 1.3% for more than 1000 cycles. Furthermore, TeNW-TFTs on an elastomeric substrate can withstand a unidirectional strain of 40% with no performance degradation.

Low-voltage operating, high mobility top-gate structural flexible organic thin-film transistor with a one-step spin-coated binary polymer gate dielectric

Low-voltage operation is one of the prerequisites for the practical applications of the organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs). Up to date, the most reported low-voltage operatable OTFTs use a bottom-gate structure, and are fabricated by several different technologies in the whole process, in which the organic semiconductors and/or gate dielectrics are prepared in the expensive vacuum equipment. The simple fabricating technologies and fewer processes can better demonstrate the inherent advantages, and enhance the commercial competitiveness of OTFTs. Here, we propose a strategy to fabricate the binary polymers gate dielectric by one-step spin-coating in the top-gate structured flexible OTFTs, by which not only the device performances are prominently improved, but also the fabricating process of the OTFTs is minimized. As a result, the flexible OTFTs exhibit a high mobility over 0.5 cm2 Vs−1, low threshold voltage near to −0.5 V, and excellent mechanical bending durability with a very slightly performances degradation after the tensile and compressive bending at a small curvature radius of 3.0 mm over 1000 cycles.

Control of Interfacial Defect States in the Flexible InGaZnO Thin Film Transistor with a 6FDA-MDA Gate Insulator by Using an Al2O3 Interlayer

Control of Interfacial Defect States in the Flexible InGaZnO Thin Film Transistor with a 6FDA-MDA Gate Insulator by Using an Al₂O₃ Interlayer

Reduction of internal stress in InGaZnO (IGZO) thin film transistors by ultra-thin metal oxide layer

In this study, the modification of indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) with an ultrathin metal oxide layer successfully reduces internal film stress. The introduction of an Al2O3 metal oxide layer effectively diminishes defects within the film and minimizes distortion in the film densification process. A low-temperature annealing process at 200 °C was employed to mitigate thermal expansion differences between the film and the substrate, thus reducing internal stress within the device. Furthermore, we have discovered that this structural modification holds the potential to enhance mechanical stress resistance. This paper offers a novel perspective and an experimental foundation for the stress analysis of flexible TFTs.

Thin-Film Transistor-Based Sensor Interface Circuits Enabling Distributed Local In-Module Solar Cell Temperature Monitoring

Accurate efficiency prediction, improved reliability, and extended lifetime of solar modules are the key driving factors for investment and research in photovoltaic (PV) systems. Enhanced performance and more refined models are realized by incorporating data derived from localized monitoring of solar modules. This work combines interface circuits designed in flexible thin-film transistors (TFTs) with distributed temperature sensors integrated into solar cell lamination enabling in-module within-cell PV monitoring. A TFT multiplexer selects between sensors and is commanded through a serial peripheral interface (SPI) to reduce the IO connections, while the low offset unity-gain TFT buffer enables precise signal transfer. The in-cell sensors together with TFT read-out circuitry demonstrate accurate outdoor temperature monitoring, comparable to silicon integrated circuits.

AC Performance Tunability of Flexible Bottom-Gate InGaZnO TFTs by an Additional Top-Gate Contact

AC Performance Tunability of Flexible Bottom-Gate InGaZnO TFTs by an Additional Top-Gate Contact

Highly Stable Flexible Thin-Film Transistors in Harsh Environments by Superhydrophobic Passivations

Highly Stable Flexible Thin-Film Transistors in Harsh Environments by Superhydrophobic Passivations

Transparent and flexible zinc oxide-based thin-film diodes and thin-film transistors: A review

Electronics today has evolved significantly, including its application in transparent and flexible devices. Flexible electronics offers new product concepts, including low production cost, low energy consumption, and sustainable and environmentally friendly materials. This concept leads to the development of novel materials that realize today’s requirements. Incorporating optically transparent and flexible thin-film-based devices into the electronic circuitry helps in maintaining high conductivity along with achieving the similar electronic behavior of the conventional electronic gadgets. Thin-film diodes (TFDs) and thin-film transistors (TFTs) are the core materials to be incorporated as building blocks for flexible devices. Among them, oxide-based thin films have been marked to be significant because of their efficient electrical performance, low temperature processing, and device flexibility. The present article reviews the concepts and application of zinc oxide (ZnO) as the semiconducting material for flexible thin-film devices. We also review flexible and transparent TFDs and TFTs that are based prominently on ZnO as the semiconducting material. Furthermore, the present issues have also been addressed.

Flexible High-Entropy Poly(vinyl alcohol) Dielectric Films Were Prepared at a Low Temperature and Applied to an Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide Thin-Film Transistor.

In recent years, more and more attention has been paid to flexible thin-film transistors (TFTs). Therefore, we combined HfMgTiYZrOx high-entropy metal oxide and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) organic material to prepare a flexible dielectric layer. We fabricated metal-insulator-metal (MIM) and TFT devices and carried out flexible tests. The test results show that the mixed dielectric layer attains a leakage current of 3.6 × 10-11 A under the bending radius of 5 mm. In the application of the TFT, the device still has good performance after 10 000 bends with a mobility of 3.1 cm2 V-1 s-1, an Ion/Ioff of 1.4 × 107, a threshold voltage of 3.3 V, and a threshold swing of 0.20 V/decade. In addition, the average transmittance of the hybrid dielectric layer in the visible range is 90.8%. Therefore, high-entropy PVA hybrid films have high transparency, low leakage current, and good bending resistance and have broad application prospects in transparent and flexible devices.

Printing flexible thin-film transistors

Flexible thin-film transistors (f-TFTs) not only attract research attention but also possess significant application potential in various fields, such as consumer electronics, human–machine interfaces, healthcare, multipurpose sensors, and logic circuits. Printing is one of the most appealing technologies for fabricating f-TFTs owing to its low cost, suitability for large-scale fabrication, and possibility to be customized under non-vacuum conditions. Significant advancements have been achieved in the printing of f-TFTs regarding several aspects, including printing techniques, printable materials, device performance, and applications, which are summarized and discussed here. Specifically, this review focuses on the recent developments achieved regarding four typical materials commonly used in printed f-TFTs: low-dimensional materials, carbon-based materials, organic materials, and metal-oxide materials. Furthermore, the actual applications of printed f-TFTs are discussed to highlight the issues in contemporary research, and future outlook and prospects regarding the development of printed f-TFTs are provided.

Low-Temperature Solution-Processed HfZrO Gate Insulator for High-Performance of Flexible LaZnO Thin-Film Transistor.

Metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS)-based thin-film transistors (TFTs) are gaining significant attention in the field of flexible electronics due to their desirable electrical properties, such as high field-effect mobility (μFE), lower IOFF, and excellent stability under bias stress. TFTs have widespread applications, such as printed electronics, flexible displays, smart cards, image sensors, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), and the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. In this study, we approach using a low-temperature solution-processed hafnium zirconium oxide (HfZrOx) gate insulator (GI) to improve the performance of lanthanum zinc oxide (LaZnO) TFTs. For the optimization of HfZrO GI, HfZrO films were annealed at 200, 250, and 300 °C. The optimized HfZrO-250 °C GI-based LaZnO TFT shows the μFE of 19.06 cm2V-1s-1, threshold voltage (VTH) of 1.98 V, hysteresis voltage (VH) of 0 V, subthreshold swing (SS) of 256 mV/dec, and ION/IOFF of ~108. The flexible LaZnO TFT with HfZrO-250 °C GI exhibits negligible ΔVTH of 0.25 V under positive-bias-temperature stress (PBTS). The flexible hysteresis-free LaZnO TFTs with HfZrO-250 °C can be widely used for flexible electronics. These enhancements were attributed to the smooth surface morphology and reduced defect density achieved with the HfZrO gate insulator. Therefore, the HfZrO/LaZnO approach holds great promise for next-generation MOS TFTs for flexible electronics.

Room-temperature fabrication of flexible oxide TFTs by co-sputtering of IGZO and ITO

Amorphous oxide semiconductors, especially indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO), have been widely studied and obtained significant progress in flexible thin-film transistors (TFTs) due to the high carrier mobility and low deposition temperature. However, a further annealing step is generally required to activate electrical properties and improve the device performance, which limited their applications in flexible electronics. In this study, we achieved flexible TFTs and arrays using co-sputtered IGZO and indium tin oxide (ITO) as channels deposited at room temperature without post-annealing. It was found that better transistor switching properties could be effectively achieved by regulating the sputtering power of ITO in the co-sputtered deposition. The device performance is comparable to that of the conventional oxide TFTs with high annealing temperatures (⩾300 °C), exhibiting a high saturation mobility (μ sat) of 15.3 cm2 V−1s−1, a small subthreshold swing (SS) of 0.21 V dec−1, and a very high on–off ratio (I on/off) of 1011. In addition, a 12 × 12 flexible TFT array was achieved with uniform performance owing to the low-temperature processing advantage of this technique. The flexible TFTs exhibited robust mechanical flexibility with a minimum bending radius of 5 mm and bending cycles up to 1000. Furthermore, an inverter based on co-sputtered IGZO and ITO was demonstrated with the maximum gain of 22. All these achievements based on the proposed TFTs without post-annealing process are expected to promote the applications in advanced flexible displays and large-area integrated circuits.

As-Grown Crystalline InGaZnO by Spray Pyrolysis on a Flexible Substrate for a Thin-Film Transistor with Excellent Stability.

The development of low-cost, high-mobility oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) with excellent stability is of increasing interest. The coplanar oxide TFTs can be used for high-speed, large-area, and high-resolution displays. Here, we report highly oriented, as-grown crystalline InGaZnO (c-IGZO) with very low oxygen vacancy defects using spray pyrolysis at the substrate temperature of 425 °C. The c-IGZO exhibits a highly oriented, c-axis aligned crystal perpendicular to the substrate with a high mass density of 6.73 g cm-3 without any disordered incubation layer. Its resistivity can be decreased to 0.42 mΩ cm by NF3 plasma doping, which is essential to achieving high-performance coplanar TFT. We have demonstrated the application of this material to high-performance flexible TFTs. The self-aligned, coplanar c-IGZO TFTs on the polyimide substrate exhibit an average field-effect mobility of 39.60 cm2 V-1 s-1, threshold voltage of -1.00 V, subthreshold swing of 0.21 V dec-1, and on/off current ratio over 108. The ring oscillator and gate driver made of the c-IGZO TFTs exhibit a propagation delay of 8.77 ns/stage and rising/falling times of 648/564 ns, respectively. Therefore, the as-grown c-IGZO by spray pyrolysis has the potential to be utilized as a new oxide semiconductor for the production of low-cost, flexible TFT electronics.

Improving the Electrical Properties of Zinc-Tin Oxide Thin-Film Transistors by Additive using Electrohydrodynamic Jet Technology

Oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) are important semiconductor materials for display backplanes. To fabricate flexible displays, not only display modes but also TFTs are important. Flexible TFTs are especially needed for flexible displays, and related processes need to be developed. Printing is a good choice for the new fabrication of oxide TFTs. Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jet printing is an excellent alternative for making flexible TFTs. To improve the electrical properties of oxide TFTs using EHD jet printing, propylene monomethyl ether acetate (PGMEA) was added to a zinc-tin oxide (ZTO) formulation. EHD jet printing was performed by Taylor cone jet mode with parameters of 2.4 kV and 0.064 µL/s to obtain uniform thin films at a substrate temperature of 50oC. Much improved TFT properties were obtained, including a mobility of 7.11 cm2/V s, on-to-off current ratio of 2.8 × 106 and subthreshold slope of 1.44 V/dec for ZTO TFT with 5 wt% of PGMEA, and a mobility of 1.43 cm2/V s, on-to-off current ratio of 2.7 × 105 and subthreshold slope of 1.32 V/dec for the ZTO TFT. Almost no hysteresis behavior was observed in the oxide TFTs with added PGMEA. We report a new way to improve the electrical properties of oxide TFTs, by the simple addition of PGMEA.

Performance and reliability improvement of all-solution processed indium zinc oxide thin-film transistor by UV irradiation treatment

Developing a low-temperature fabrication strategy for amorphous oxide semiconductors, such as amorphous indium zinc oxide (a-IZO) channel layers, for use in flexible oxide-based thin-film transistors (TFTs) is essential. In this work, high-performance and highly stable all-solution processed a-IZO TFTs were achieved by varying the duration of a photo-assisted combination treatment (UV combination treatment), which combines UV irradiation with a low heating temperature (115 °C) in an all-solution processed approach. From the experimental results, UV irradiation can activate the IZO source, drain, and gate electrodes which induces TFT switching. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis revealed oxygen vacancy (V o) generation after the UV combination treatment which increased the carrier concentration and improved the conductivity of IZO. All-solution processed a-IZO TFTs with high performance and stability, high mobility (µ) up to 17.45 cm2 V−1 s−1, threshold voltage (Vth) = −1.2 V, and subthreshold swing (SS) = 0.64 V dec−1, were obtained at a low temperature of 115 °C for 90 min treatment time. The stability behavior of self-aligned top-gate, top-contact a-IZO TFT fabricated by UV combination treatment was investigated under positive bias stress (PBS) and negative bias stress (NBS) with the smallest ΔV th of 2.4 V and 0.5 V for PBS and NBS, respectively. Our work shows that better stability indicated by the smaller ΔV th is achieved due to reduction of interface trap density and moisture-related impurities, in particular on the activated electrode area. As a result, it can be inferred that UV combination treatment is a simple and promising method to enhance the electrical and stability performance of a-IZO TFTs even with the low-temperature process, which is useful for flexible devices.

High Performance Amorphous In0.5Ga0.5O Thin‐Film Transistor Embedded with Nanocrystalline In2O3 Dots for Flexible Display Application

AbstractHigh‐performance, coplanar amorphous In0.5Ga0.5O (a‐IGO) thin film transistor (TFT) on a polyimide (PI) substrate deposited by spray pyrolysis (SP) is reported. The SP a‐IGO film deposited at 370 °C has less than 8% nanocrystalline‐In2O3 dots and a mass density of 6.6 g cm−3. The a‐IGO TFT on PI exhibits linear mobility over 30 cm2 V−1 s−1 and a negligible shift in threshold voltage (ΔVTH = <0.3 V) under positive bias (+20 V) at 60 °C for 1 h. The TFT performance is stable even when bent to a radius of ≈1 mm. The X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy results of the SP a‐IGO deposited at 370 °C indicate the O‐vacancy (Vo) related defects of 25.79% and hydroxyl (OH) at less than 3%, indicating a good active/gate insulator interface. A seven‐stage ring oscillator made of SP a‐IGO TFTs exhibits a high oscillation frequency (>2.3 MHz) with a low propagation delay time of ≈30 ns per stage at a supply voltage (VDD) of 15 V. The fabricated gate shift register circuit works up to the last stage without any decrement of the input voltage (15 V) with rising and falling times less than 0.8 µs. Therefore, the coplanar a‐IGO TFT by SP deposited at 370 °C is a promising candidate for low‐cost, flexible TFT backplanes of foldable electronics.

Flexible a-InGaZnO Thin Film Transistor Based on Biocompatible Sodium Alginate

Flexible electronics have attracted increased attention in advanced fields, such as electronic skin and flexible displays. However, most flexible electronic devices are made with polymers that lack biocompatibility and environmental friendliness. Meanwhile, the complexity of the manufacturing process further restricts the mass production of flexible devices. This study uses biocompatible sodium alginate (SA) derived from seaweed as a flexible substrate to fabricate a thin film transistor (TFT) without using lithography, effectively protecting the flexible substrate from eroding. The flexible TFT with SA substrate can be opened at the Vg of ~ 0 V, and the mobility 26.8 cm2/(V·s) is realized. Flexible TFT with SA substrate has desirable characteristics, such as biocompatibility, transparency, and high mobility, providing promise for advancing the implementation of electronic skin and flexible displays.

Performance and reliability enhancement of flexible low-temperature polycrystalline silicon thin-film transistors via activation-annealing temperature optimization

The high performance and reliability of low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) thin-film transistors (TFTs) on flexible substrates need to be ensured for the proper operation of advanced flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays. However, due to the heat-sensitive components of flexible LTPS TFTs, their fabrication process faces challenges in the temperature management of its thermal treatment procedures such as activation annealing, which is an essential step in the in-line fabrication process of LTPS TFTs for activating dopants and reducing silicon lattice-related structural defects. In this work, we investigate the optimization of the activation-annealing process through the modulation of its process temperature. As the activation-annealing temperature was increased from 320 °C to 370 °C, the electrical characteristics and reliability of flexible LTPS TFTs improved owing to a decrease in the gate dielectric/channel interface and bulk channel defects. However, as the temperature was further increased to 420 °C, considerable degradations in device performance and reliability were observed due to a significant increase in the deep-level gate dielectric/channel interface and bulk channel defects. Physical analysis revealed that significant dehydrogenation, in which the breakage of Si−H bonds causes excess Si dangling bonds, occurred at 420 °C. This work shows that a fine temperature optimization of the activation annealing process is a necessary procedure for ensuring highly performant and reliable LTPS TFTs on flexible substrates.