Fully Printed, High Performance Carbon Nanotube Thin-Film\nTransistors on Flexible Substrates

Abstract

Fully printed transistors are a key\ncomponent of ubiquitous flexible\nelectronics. In this work, the advantages of an inverse gravure printing\ntechnique and the solution processing of semiconductor-enriched single-walled\ncarbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are combined to fabricate fully printed thin-film\ntransistors on mechanically flexible substrates. The fully printed\ntransistors are configured in a top-gate device geometry and utilize\nsilver metal electrodes and an inorganic/organic high-κ (∼17)\ngate dielectric. The devices exhibit excellent performance for a fully\nprinted process, with mobility and on/off current ratio of up to ∼9\ncm²/(V s) and 10⁵, respectively. Extreme bendability\nis observed, without measurable change in the electrical performance\ndown to a small radius of curvature of 1 mm. Given the high performance\nof the transistors, our high-throughput printing process serves as\nan enabling nanomanufacturing scheme for a wide range of large-area\nelectronic applications based on carbon nanotube networks.