Flexible ferroelectret field-effect transistor for large-area sensor skins and microphones

Ferroelectrets generate an electric field large enough to modulate the conductance of the source-drain channel of a thin-film field-effect transistor. Integrating a ferroelectret with a thin-film transistor produces a ferroelectret field-effect transistor. The authors made such transistors by laminating cellular polypropylene films and amorphous silicon thin-film transistors on polyimide substrates. They show that these ferrroelectret field-effect transistors respond in a static capacitive or dynamic piezoelectric mode. A touch sensor, a pressure-activated switch, and a microphone are demonstrated. The structure can be scaled up to large-area flexible transducer arrays, such as roll-up steerable compliant sensor skin. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.