Transparent Flexible Inorganic-Organic Hybrid Thin-Film Transistors (25093)

Northwestern researchers have created a range of transparent and flexible inorganic – organic hybrid n-type thin film transistors (TFTs) with high mobility and ultrathin high capacitance/low leakage gate dielectrics that exhibit excellent operating properties.

ADVANTAGE: Transparent and flexible TFTs with high field effect mobility, drain-source current on/off modulation and low threshold voltage offering wide potential for low power electronic, photonic and display applications. Quality devices are produced at room temperature conditions in a scaleable process.

SUMMARY: Thin film transistors are vital components in modern electronic, photonic devices and applications. Future TFTs will benefit from low power consumption and operating bias, optical transparency, robust environmental stability and low cost fabrication. Inorganic silicon TFTs provide high carrier mobility but generally lack mechanical flexibility, optical transparency and require high temperature processing. Organic TFTs can utilize flexible substrates and low temperature processing but exhibit modest carrier mobility and environmental durability. This invention provides a unique inorganic-organic hybrid TFT fabricated with high transparency In2O3 thin film n-channel semiconductor and self-assembled nanodielectric or cross-linked polymer dielectric. Hybrid TFT constructs (a) n--Si gate/nanodielectric or polymer dielectric/ In2O3 thin film semiconductor/Au source-drain electrodes and (b) PET/ITO gate/polymer dielectric/ In2O3 semiconductor/Au source-drain electrodes were fabricated at room temperature, employing scaleable semiconductor operations. Significant electron mobility, Ion / Ioff drain-source current modulation ratio and low threshold potential were observed with these devices versus a comparable SiO2 dielectric TFT (Table). Normal n-channel behavior and field effect I – V characteristics were produced in each case (Figures 1-3). These properties are well suited for most low current applications. The hybrid ITO/PET gate TFT displays excellent mobility, transparency and flexibility (Figure 4). This hybrid technology promises to greatly expand utilization of the ubiquitous thin film transistor.

Inventor(s): Tobin Marks, Lian Wang, Antonio Facchetti, Myung-Han Yoon, Yu Yang

Type of Offer: Licensing



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