High-performance transparent inorganic–organic hybrid thin-film n-type transistors

Abstract

High-performance thin-film transistors (TFTs) that can be fabricated at low temperature and are mechanically flexible, optically transparent and compatible with diverse substrate materials are of great current interest. To function at low biases to minimize power consumption, such devices must also contain a high-mobility semiconductor and/or a high-capacitance gate dielectric. Here we report transparent inorganic-organic hybrid n-type TFTs fabricated at room temperature by combining In2O3 thin films grown by ion-assisted deposition, with nanoscale organic dielectrics self-assembled in a solution-phase process. Such TFTs combine the advantages of a high-mobility transparent inorganic semiconductor with an ultrathin high-capacitance/low-leakage organic gate dielectric. The resulting, completely transparent TFTs exhibit excellent operating characteristics near 1.0 V with large field-effect mobilities of >120 cm2 V(-1) s(-1), drain-source current on/off modulation ratio (I(on)/I(off)) approximately 10(5), near-zero threshold voltages and sub-threshold gate voltage swings of 90 mV per decade. The results suggest new strategies for achieving 'invisible' optoelectronics.

Tunable optical properties of hybrid inorganic–organic [(TiO2)m(Ti–O–C6H4–O–)k]n superlattice thin films

“…26 For such photoelectrochemical applications, the wide 3.2 eV band gap of pure TiO2 limits the full exploitation of the solar spectrum, and hence, sensitization of TiO2 to visible light plays a key role in search for enhanced 4 device performance. In this respect, combining ALD fabricated TiO2 layers with MLD fabricated organic layers into hybrid structures provides an attractive way for tuning the optical properties of TiO2.…”

Fabrication of fully transparent nanowire transistors for transparent and flexible electronics

“…In this regard, recent transparent transistor research efforts have focused on enhancing transparency and flexibility while maintaining or enhancing key TFT performance metrics. There have been several recent reports of transparent transistors fabricated with ZnO, SnO 2 , In 2 O 3 or other semiconducting oxide thin films, or with carbon nanotube networks as the active channel layers and opaque source and drain metals, or with carbon nanotube films and transparent source/drain electrodes [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] . However, there have been no reports of fully transparent oxide nanowire transistors (NWTs) fabricated with all-transparent gate and source/drain electrodes and displaying high transistor performance.…”

Spray‐Deposited Li‐Doped ZnO Transistors with Electron Mobility Exceeding 50 cm2/Vs

“…Metal oxide semiconductors, in particular, are very attractive for implementation into thin-film transistors (TFTs) [1][2] mainly because of their high charge 2 carrier mobility, high optical transparency, excellent chemical stability, mechanical stress tolerance and processing versatility [3][4][5] . Oxide semiconductors are usually grown using vacuum-based techniques such as sputtering [6][7][8] , pulsed laser deposition [9] , chemical vapour deposition [10] , and ion-assisted deposition [11][12] . Based on these methods, the synthesis of a wide range of metal oxide semiconductors with high charge carrier mobilities and low carrier concentration has been demonstrated [7] .…”

“…Oxide semiconductors are usually grown using vacuum-based techniques such as sputtering [6][7][8] , pulsed laser deposition [9] , chemical vapour deposition [10] , and ion-assisted deposition [11][12] . Based on these methods, the synthesis of a wide range of metal oxide semiconductors with high charge carrier mobilities and low carrier concentration has been demonstrated [7] .…”

“…Based on these methods, the synthesis of a wide range of metal oxide semiconductors with high charge carrier mobilities and low carrier concentration has been demonstrated [7] . Many of these materials have been investigated for applications in thin-film electronics where transistors with electron mobilities up to 140 cm 2 /Vs have been demonstrated [7,[11][12][13][14][15][16] . Despite the great promise however, the application of vacuum-based technologies for the deposition of complex oxide semiconductors suffers from incompatibility with large-area substrates and hence high manufacturing cost.…”