Integrated inorganic/organic complementary thin-film transistor circuit and a method for its production

A method for fabricating an integrated inorganic/organic complementary thin-film transistor circuit comprising a first and a second transistor which are operatively connected and provided on a common substrate, wherein the first transistor is an inorganic thin-film transistor and the second transistor a organic thin-film transistor, and wherein the complementary thin-film transistor circuit forms a multilayer thin-film structure with successively deposited and patterned thin-film layers, the method comprising:

• forming the inorganic thin-film transistor as an n-channel transistor and the organic thin-film transistor as a p-channel transistor by depositing respectively an n-channel inorganic active semiconductor material and a p-channel organic active semiconductor material or correspondingly forming the organic thin-film transistor as an n-channel transistor and the inorganic thin-film transistor as a p-channel transistor by depositing respectively an n-channel organic active semiconductor material and a p-channel inorganic active semiconductor material;
• depositing separate gate electrodes for respectively the first and the second transistor on a common substrate;
• depositing material for the source electrode and the drain electrode of the organic thin-film transistor on the same level in the thin-film structure of the organic thin-film transistor and in each case providing the organic active semiconductor material in an organic p-channel transistor electrically isolated from the inorganic n-channel transistor;
• and
• optionally providing the organic active semiconductive material in an organic n-channel transistor electrically isolated from the inorganic p-channel transistor.

A method for fabricating an inorganic/organic complementary thin-film transistor circuit comprising a first and a second transistor which are operatively connected and provided on a common substrate, wherein the first transistor is an inorganic thin-film transistor and the second transistor an organic thin-film transistor, wherein the complementary thin-film transistor circuit forms a multilayer thin-film structure with successively deposited and patterned thin-film layers, and wherein the method comprises;

• depositing separate gate electrodes of a first metal for each of the two transistors on a common substrate;
• depositing separate inorganic isolators of silicon nitride (SiNx) over each gate electrode;
• depositing an inorganic active semiconductor in the form of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) above one of the gate electrodes which thus forms the gate electrode of the first transistor, depositing and patterning an n+ doped layer of either hydrogenated amorphous silicon (n+a-Si:H) or hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon (n+ μc-Si:H) or hydrogenated polycrystalline silicon (n+pc-Si:H) as source and drain contacts for the first transistor;
• depositing and patterning the source and drain electrodes of the first transistor in form of a second metal over the source and drain contacts thereof;
• depositing and patterning the source and drain electrodes for the second transistor in the form of a third metal in the same layer level in the thin-film structure;
• and
• forming an isolating double layer over the whole organic thin-film transistor and patterning this such that the source and drain electrodes and the gate isolator in the second transistor become exposed, whereafter a layer of pentacene is deposited above the isolating double layer and the exposed portion of the second transistor, the pentacene layer in the exposed portion forming the active semiconductor material of the organic thin-film transistor and being provided electrically isolated against the additional pentacene layer broken by a re-entrant edge of the profile of the isolating double layer.