Wafer-Scale Fabrication of Separated Carbon Nanotube Thin-Film Transistors for Display Applications

• Published in: Nano letters Vol. 9; no. 12; pp. 4285 - 4291
• Main Authors: Wang, Chuan, Zhang, Jialu, Ryu, Koungmin, Badmaev, Alexander, De Arco, Lewis Gomez, Zhou, Chongwu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 09.12.2009
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Crystallization - methods; Data Display; Electronics; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Exact sciences and technology; Macromolecular Substances - chemistry; Materials science; Materials Testing; Molecular Conformation; Molecular electronics, nanoelectronics; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nanotechnology - instrumentation; Nanotubes; Nanotubes, Carbon - chemistry; Nanotubes, Carbon - ultrastructure; Particle Size; Physics; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Surface Properties; Transistors; Transistors, Electronic; Nanotube devices; High density; Carbon nanotubes; Light emitting diodes; Thin film transistors; Switching; Thin films; Sheet resistivity; Silicon oxides; Wafers; Organic light emitting diodes; Current density; Nanostructured materials
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/nl902522f

Preseparated, semiconductive enriched carbon nanotubes hold great potential for thin-film transistors and display applications due to their high mobility, high percentage of semiconductive nanotubes, and room-temperature processing compatibility. Here in this paper, we report our progress on wafer-scale processing of separated nanotube thin-film transistors (SN-TFTs) for display applications, including key technology components such as wafer-scale assembly of high-density, uniform separated nanotube networks, high-yield fabrication of devices with superior performance, and demonstration of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) switching controlled by a SN-TFT. On the basis of separated nanotubes with 95% semiconductive nanotubes, we have achieved solution-based assembly of separated nanotube thin films on complete 3 in. Si/SiO2 wafers, and further carried out wafer-scale fabrication to produce transistors with high yield (>98%), small sheet resistance (∼25 kΩ/sq), high current density (∼10 μA/μm), and superior mobility (∼52 cm2 V−1 s−1). Moreover, on/off ratios of >104 are achieved in devices with channel length L > 20 μm. In addition, OLED control circuit has been demonstrated with the SN-TFT, and the modulation in the output light intensity exceeds 104. Our approach can be easily scaled to large areas and could serve as critical foundation for future nanotube-based display electronics.