Mechanically flexible thin-film transistors that use ultrathin ribbons of silicon derived from bulk wafers

Abstract

This letter introduces a type of thin-film transistor that uses aligned arrays of thin ͑submicron͒ ribbons of single-crystal silicon created by lithographic patterning and anisotropic etching of bulk silicon ͑111͒ wafers. Devices that incorporate such ribbons printed onto thin plastic substrates show good electrical properties and mechanical flexibility. Effective device mobilities, as evaluated in the linear regime, were as high as 360 cm 2 V −1 s −1 , and on/off ratios were Ͼ10 3. These results may represent important steps toward a low-cost approach to large-area, high-performance, mechanically flexible electronic systems for structural health monitors, sensors, displays, and other applications.

High-performance rectifiers fabricated on a flexible substrate

“…7,8 The fabrication process and materials are environmentally friendly, and they are also compatible with large-area roll-to-roll manufacturing. There is a lot of interest in this (flexible plastic substrates) technology [9][10][11][12][13] due to the distinct advantages it presents over the rigid substrates in many applications. Unlike the rigid substrates, the flexible plastic substrate is usually more robust and compact, has lighter weight, and is more cost effective.…”

“…9 The use of the plastic substrates has also enable new product concepts such as conformable sensors and curved displays. 9,13 While flexible devices such as organic diodes already exist, they are limited by poor frequency response. 14 This makes MIM diodes on flexible substrates very attractive due to their potential to operate at very high frequencies.…”

Elastomeric Electronics: A Microfluidic Approach

“…Dozens of appealing devices based on stretchable silicon ICs, including electronic eye sensor [7], smart gloves/skins [8], implanted medical devices [9], and wearable ergonomic biomedical sensors [10], have been demonstrated. An alternative approach utilizing anisotropic etching of bulk wafers was also introduced [11], [12]. Later, thin meandered stretchable interconnects encased in silicone rubber substrates, operating at different frequencies, were presented [13]- [15].…”

Structural and electrical characteristics of high-k/metal gate metal oxide semiconductor capacitors fabricated on flexible, semi-transparent silicon (100) fabric

“…In the recent past, inorganic substrates like silicon on insulator (SOI) and silicon (111) have been used to peel off nano-ribbons or partially processed devices from them followed by polymer based transfer onto flexible substrates like plastic, aluminum foil, etc. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Although many exciting demonstrations have been reported, challenges remain with usage of expensive SOI substrates, unconventional silicon (111), high resolution alignment, etc. Today's high performance devices used in computers and communication devices has clock speed of 3.2 GHz and 1.8 GHz, respectively.…”