Transparent Nanoscale Polyimide Gate Dielectric for Highly Flexible Electronics

Abstract

Transparent and solution‐processable nanoscale polyimide (NPI) films less than 100 nm thick and their applications as flexible gate dielectrics for 2D‐materials‐based transistor devices are reported. Stable electrical performances of NPI dielectric under high tensile strains up to 10% are demonstrated by in situ bending experiments. A welcome benefit of the NPI nanoscale thickness is that the optical transparency is improved over 84% across the visible spectrum compared to conventional thick polyimide, indicating suitability for transparent electronics, such as displays and sensors. Prototypical 2D active materials, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), and graphene using NPI gate dielectric show outstanding thin‐film transistors (TFTs) properties comparable to performances of similar devices using atomic layer deposition (ALD) gate dielectrics. For instance, MoS2 FETs with NPI dielectric affords maximum field‐effect mobility of 30 cm2 V−1 s−1 and ON/OFF current ratio >107. Graphene FETs (GFETs), fabricated with NPI dielectric, also show DC and radio frequency (RF) performances comparable to similar devices with high‐κ dielectrics, such as maximum carrier mobility of ≈5170 cm2 V−1 s−1. An extrinsic cutoff frequency ≈6.5 GHz is achieved, which reveals that NPI is also a suitable dielectric for flexible RF TFTs for wireless communication systems.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jan 02, 2018
Source ID
10.1002/aelm.201700043

Entities

People

  • Alvin L. Lee
  • Deji Akinwande
  • Hsiao‐yu Chang
  • Saungeun Park
  • Somayyeh Rahimi
  • Tao Li

Organizations

  • Office of Naval Research
  • University of Texas at Austin

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Marine Propulsion Engineering and Naval Architecture
  • Semiconductor Device Technology

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Graphene