Carbon Nanotube Active-Matrix Backplanes for Conformal Electronics and Sensors

In this paper, we report a promising approach for fabricating large-scale flexible and stretchable electronics using a semiconductor-enriched carbon nanotube solution. Uniform semiconducting nanotube networks with superb electrical properties (mobility of similar to 20 cm(2) V-1 s(-1) and I-ON/I-OFF of similar to 10(4)) are obtained on polyimide substrates. The substrate is made stretchable by laser cutting a honeycomb mesh structure, which combined with nanotube-network transistors enables highly robust conformal electronic devices with minimal device-to-device stochastic variations. The utility of this device concept is demonstrated by fabricating an active-matrix backplane (12 x 8 pixels, physical size of 6 x 4 cm(2)) for pressure mapping using a pressure sensitive rubber as the sensor element.