Nanotransfer printing of organic and carbon nanotube thin-film transistors on plastic substrates

Abstract

A printing process for high-resolution transfer of all components for organic electronic devices on plastic substrates has been developed and demonstrated for pentacene (Pn), poly (3-hexylthiophene) and carbon nanotube (CNT) thin-film transistors (TFTs). The nanotransfer printing process allows fabrication of an entire device without exposing any component to incompatible processes and with reduced need for special chemical preparation of transfer or device substrates. Devices on plastic substrates include a Pn TFT with a saturation, field-effect mobility of 0.09 cm 2 (Vs) -1 and on/off ratio approximately 10 4 and a CNT TFT which exhibits ambipolar behavior and no hysteresis.

Patterned Carbon Nanotube Thin-Film Transistors with Transfer-Print Assembly

“…CNT film transistors on inorganic and plastic substrates have both been demonstrated 16,18,19 . Such devices on a Si substrate with a SiO 2 dielectric layer have been shown to exhibit large hysteresis and a p-type transistor response 18 .…”

“…Such devices on a Si substrate with a SiO 2 dielectric layer have been shown to exhibit large hysteresis and a p-type transistor response 18 . On a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate with a poly methylmethacrylate (PMMA) dielectric layer a similar CNT film has been shown to display little hysteresis and an ambipolar transistor response 16 . On plastic substrates these devices have the additional benefit of being flexible and transparent.…”

“…Therefore both top gate and bottom gate CNT devices are of technological interest. Previously reported transfer printing methods were used to fabricate CNT thin-film transistor (TFT) devices in the top gate geometry 16 . In this paper the transfer printing method has been expanded to include the fabrication of bottom gate devices.…”

“…CNT films can be patterned using various methods such as photolithography 15 and nanotransfer printing 16,17 . CNT film transistors on inorganic and plastic substrates have both been demonstrated 16,18,19 .…”

A Complete Scheme for Creating Predefined Networks of Individual Carbon Nanotubes

“…[8][9][10][11] Despite these efforts, to date, no method has been devised that can address all four crucial aspects involved in the fabrication of large networks of SWCNTs, namely, aligning the SWCNTs in a preset pattern, positioning the nanotubes in a desired location, selecting or identifying the chirality of each of the individual CNTs, and, finally, the ability to integrate such CNT nanocircuits in an integrated circuit (IC) compatible environment. Efforts so far have involved the use of chemical templates to guide solution-based CNTs to desired locations, 11,12 procedures implementing nanostamping of CNT-based devices [13][14][15] allowing one to directly utilize as-grown nanotubes for devising CNT-based devices, as well as many other techniques. 5,11 Here we present a complete scheme suited for the production of large CNT arrays with predefined, controlled geometry (i.e., position and alignment) as well as easily determined chirality (i.e., metallic or semiconducting nanotubes).…”