Transferred wrinkled Al2O3 for highly stretchable and transparent graphene–carbon nanotube transistors

• Published in: Nature materials Vol. 12; no. 5; pp. 403 - 409
• Main Authors: Chae, Sang Hoon, Yu, Woo Jong, Bae, Jung Jun, Duong, Dinh Loc, Perello, David, Jeong, Hye Yun, Ta, Quang Huy, Ly, Thuc Hue, Vu, Quoc An, Yun, Minhee, Duan, Xiangfeng, Lee, Young Hee
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.05.2013; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/301/119/995; 639/301/357/551; Biomaterials; Carbon; Condensed Matter Physics; Electrodes; Fabrication; letter; Materials Science; Nanotechnology; Nanotubes; Optical and Electronic Materials; Polymers; Sustainability; Thin films; Transistors
• ISSN: 1476-1122; 1476-4660
• DOI: 10.1038/nmat3572

Despite recent progress in the production of bendable thin-film transistors, their development is limited by leakage currents and fragile inorganic oxides. Combining graphene and single-walled carbon nanotube electrodes with a geometrically wrinkled inorganic layer, highly stretchable and transparent field-effect transistors have now been demonstrated. Despite recent progress in producing transparent and bendable thin-film transistors using graphene and carbon nanotubes 1 , 2 , the development of stretchable devices remains limited either by fragile inorganic oxides or polymer dielectrics with high leakage current 3 , 4 . Here we report the fabrication of highly stretchable and transparent field-effect transistors combining graphene/single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) electrodes and a SWCNT-network channel with a geometrically wrinkled inorganic dielectric layer. The wrinkled Al 2 O 3 layer contained effective built-in air gaps with a small gate leakage current of 10 −13  A. The resulting devices exhibited an excellent on/off ratio of ~10 5 , a high mobility of ~40 cm 2  V −1  s −1 and a low operating voltage of less than 1 V. Importantly, because of the wrinkled dielectric layer, the transistors retained performance under strains as high as 20% without appreciable leakage current increases or physical degradation. No significant performance loss was observed after stretching and releasing the devices for over 1,000 times. The sustainability and performance advances demonstrated here are promising for the adoption of stretchable electronics in a wide variety of future applications.