Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC) and NanoIntegris have announced they have developed a materials package that aims to help advance the rapidly expanding wearable and flexible electronics market.
The thin film transistor package combines a novel dielectric ink developed at the XRCC, with a high purity, single-walled carbon nanotube ink developed by NanoIntegris. The materials package improves the overall performance of printed high-mobility p-type transistors.
According to XRCC one of the challenges that has limited the implementation of single-walled, carbon nanotube-based thin film transistors is that they exhibit considerable hysteresis. The thin film transistor package overcomes this issue by using Xerox ink as a dielectric and encapsulant, ensuring compatibility between semiconducting and dielectric materials, and enabling reliable processing and device performance.
Brynn Dooley, manager of XRCC’s Electronic Materials Business, said, "XRCC and NanoIntegris are providing a materials package that enables fabrication of highly functional printed electronic components." Brynn added, "This new materials solution will help our clients with their innovation mandates."
Hysteresis free carbon nanotube thin film transistors comprising hydrophobic dielectrics
J. Lefebvre | J. Ding | Z. Li | F. Cheng | N. Du | P. R. L. Malenfant
Appl. Phys. Lett. 107, 243301 (2015);
Abstract
We present two examples of carbon nanotube network thin film transistors with strongly hydrophobicdielectrics comprising either Teflon-AF or a poly(vinylphenol)/poly(methyl silsesquioxane) (PVP/pMSSQ) blend. In the absence of encapsulation, bottom gated transistors in air ambient show no hysteresis between forward and reverse gate sweep direction. Device threshold gate voltage and On-current present excellent time dependent stability even under dielectric stress. Furthermore, threshold gate voltage for hole conduction is negative upon device encapsulation with PVP/pMSSQ enabling much improved current On/Off ratio at 0 V. This work addresses two major challenges impeding solution based fabrication of relevant thin film transistors with printable single-walled carbon nanotube channels.