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US 2008/0173865 A1Published application
Printable Thin-Film Transistor for Flexible Electronics
AssigneeNano-Proprietary, Inc.
InventorsRichard Lee Fink, Zvi Yaniv
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Abstract
Fabrication of thin-film transistor devices on polymer substrate films that is low-temperature and fully compatible with polymer substrate materials. The process produces micron-sized gate length structures that can be fabricated using inkjet and other standard printing techniques. The process is based on microcrack technology developed for surface conduction emitter configurations for field emission devices.
Claims9
A thin film transistor (TFT) comprising:
- a substrate;
- a source electrode on the substrate;
- a drain electrode on the substrate positioned a distance from the source electrode;
- a layer of metal oxide deposited on the substrate between the source and drain electrodes, wherein the layer of metal oxide is reduced to metal to form a microcrack in the layer between the source and drain electrodes, wherein the microcrack separates a first portion of the metal layer contacting the source electrode from a second portion of the metal layer contacting the drain electrode;
- an active semiconductor material deposited so that it bridges the microcrack, contacting both the first and second portions of the metal layer;
- a gate dielectric material deposited over the active semiconductor material;
- and
- a gate electrode deposited on the gate dielectric material and not contacting the metal layer or the active semiconductor material.
5 more elements
A method of manufacturing a TFT comprising:
- inkjet printing conductive ink on a substrate to form source and drain electrodes spaced apart from each other;
- inkjet printing a PdO layer on the substrate between the source and drain electrodes;
- reducing the PdO layer to Pd metal resulting in formation of a microcrack in the Pd metal layer;
- inkjet printing an active semiconductor on the reduced PdO layer across the microcrack;
- inkjet printing a gate dielectric over the active semiconductor;
- and
- inkjet printing a gate electrode over the gate dielectric.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.