Subthreshold Swing of 59 mV decade-1 in Nanoscale Flexible Ultralow-Voltage Organic Transistors

Organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) that provide subthreshold swings near the theoretical limit together with large on/off current ratios at very low operating voltages require high-capacitance gate dielectrics with a vanishingly small defect density. A promising approach to the fabrication of such dielectrics at temperatures sufficiently low to allow TFT fabrication on polymeric substrates are hybrid dielectrics consisting of a thin metal oxide layer in combination with a molecular self-assembled monolayer (SAM). Here, the electrical and surface properties of titanium oxide produced by the plasma-assisted oxidation of the surface of vacuum-deposited titanium gate electrodes and its use as the first component of a hybrid TiOx/SAM gate dielectric in flexible organic TFTs are investigated. These transistors have a gate-dielectric capacitance of about 1 mu F cm(-2), a subthreshold swing of 59 mV decade(-1) (within measurement error of the physical limit at room temperature) for a wide range of channel lengths as small as 0.7 mu m, and an on/off current ratio of 10(7) for a gate-source-voltage range of 1 V.

Automated summary

The study investigates the use of plasma-assisted oxidation of vacuum-deposited titanium gate electrodes to produce titanium oxide, which is used as the first component of a hybrid TiOx/SAM gate dielectric in flexible organic TFTs. These transistors demonstrate a gate-dielectric capacitance of approximately 1 mu F cm(-2), a subthreshold swing of 59 mV decade(-1) (close to the physical limit at room temperature within measurement error), and an on/off current ratio of 10(7) for a gate-source-voltage range of 1V even at channel lengths as small as 0.7 mu m.