Ultralow-Thermal-Budget-Driven IWO-Based Thin-Film Transistors and Application Explorations

Abstract

Exploiting multifunctional thin film transistors (TFTs) by low-temperature manufacturing strategy is a crucial step toward flexible electronics. Herein, a multifunctional indium–tungsten-oxide (IWO)-based TFT, gated by solid-state chitosan electrolyte membrane, is fabricated on paper substrate at room temperature. The chitosan exhibits a high specific electric-double-layer capacitance of 2.0 µF cm−2 due to the existence of mobile protons. The IWO-based TFT possesses excellent electrical properties, including a low threshold voltage of 0.2 V, larger current switching ratio of 1.3 × 106, high field effect mobility of 15.0 cm2 V−1s−1, and small subthreshold swing of 117 mV/decade, respectively. Multifunctional operations including inverter, Schmitt triggers, and NAND gate are successfully demonstrated. As an example of information processing, the essential signal transmission functions of biological synapses also be emulated in the fabricated IWO-based TFTs. The experimental results indicate that such flexible IWO-based TFTs on low-cost and biodegradable paper provide the new-concept building blocks for flexible electronics.