Submicron pentacene-based organic thin film transistors on flexible substrates

The authors demonstrate the fabrication of organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) based on pentacene with submicron channels on flexible substrates. Nanoimprint lithography is used for the patterning of the source and drain electrodes and processed directly on the spin-on gate dielectric, the structured gate electrode, and the flexible substrate. The use of sub-100-nm thin organic gate dielectrics enables full drain current saturation for devices with channel lengths down to 500 nm. The submicron OTFTs exhibit negative threshold voltages with an absolute value well below 5 V and have subthreshold swings around 0.5 V/decade. This demonstrates the possibility to fabricate fully structured and miniaturized OTFTs operating at low voltages and paves the way for a low-cost fabrication of downscaled high performance organic electronic circuits. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.