Fully aromatic polyimide gate insulators with low temperature processability for pentacene organic thin-film transistors

This paper demonstrates the effects of the imidization ratio of polyimide gate insulators on the performance of organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs). We report the synthetic results of polyimide films imidized at a temperature of 200 degrees C along with an easily removed organic base catalyst (1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene, DBU), and their application in gate insulators of organic thin-film transistors. The degree of imidization increased to almost 100% after a thermal treatment at 200 degrees C for 40 min in the presence of DBU. The performance of the pentacene OTFT dramatically improved by using low temperature cured polyimide film as the gate insulator. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.