(Invited) Highly Stable Metal-Oxide Thin-Film-Transistors and Circuits for Large-Area Flexible and Stretchable Electronics

Abstract

Thin-film transistors (TFTs) have been considered as an essential component in modern sensory and displays due to their unique electrical properties for pixel and circuit applications, as well as their compatibility with low-cost manufacturing and large-area substrates. As the thin-film electronics have rapidly advanced toward much complex functionality along with higher resolutions and refresh rates, especially with the emergence of area-scalable wide form factors such as large-area foldable and stretchable displays, the features and materials of the TFT devices must evolve to meet these demands. Metal-oxide (MO) TFTs have emerged as a promising platform to facilitate the evolution of electronic products in terms of uniformity, conformability, and reduced manufacturing costs, while enabling large-area electronics on flexible and stretchable substrates due to their cost-effective fabrication and high uniformity.However, despite these advances expanding the potential applications of MO TFTs, implementing highly robust flexible/stretchable MO TFTs with good electrical performance remains somewhat challenging. In this presentation, recent technologies 1- 4 for the structural and material approaches to achieve robust and stable high-form factor MO TFTs are introduced. Additionally, the envision and outlook for more versatile strategy to advance the development of commercial-level high-form factor electronics will be fully discussed. References Kim, Y.-H and S. K. Park. et al. Flexible metal-oxide devices made by room-temperature photochemical activation of sol-gel films. Nature .. 2012 , 489, -W Jo, J. K. Kim, K.-T. Kim, J.-G. Kang, M.-G. Kim, K.-H. Kim, H. Ko, Y.-H. Kim, and S. K. Park, “Highly stable and imperceptible electronics utilizing photo-activated heterogeneous sol-gel metal-oxide dielectrics and semiconductors”, Advanced Materials , 2015 , 27, 1182 T. Kim, S. Moon, M. Kim, J.-W. Jo, C. Y. Park, S. H. Kang, Y.-H. Kim, and S. K. Park, “Highly scalable and robust mesa-island structure metal-oxide thin-film-transistors and integrated circuits enabled by stress-diffusive manipulation”, Advanced Materials , 2020 , 32, 2003276. H. Kang, J. -W. Jo, J. M. Lee, Y.-H. Kim, J.-W. Kim, S. K. Park, “Full integration of highly stretchable inorganic transistors and circuits within molecular-tailored elastic substrates on a large scale” Nature Communications , 2024 , 15, 2814