RF Characterization of Gigahertz Flexible Silicon Thin-Film Transistor on Plastic Substrates Under Bending Conditions

Author

Guoxuan Qin ; Jung-Hun Seo ; Yang Zhang ; Han Zhou ; Weidong Zhou ; Yuxin Wang ; Jianguo Ma ; Zhenqiang Ma

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electron. Inf. Eng., Tianjin Univ., Tianjin, China

Volume

34

Issue

2

fYear

2013

fDate

Feb. 2013

Firstpage

262

Lastpage

264

Abstract

This letter presents fabrication of a flexible 1.5-μm -channel-length silicon thin-film transistor (TFT) on a plastic substrate with a cutoff frequency f_T of ~ 3.7 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency f_max of ~ 12 GHz. Radio-frequency (RF) characterization is conducted for the flexible TFT under uniaxial mechanical bending conditions, indicating slight but notable monotonic performance enhancement with larger bending strains. Equivalent circuit model and theoretical analysis are employed to understand the underlying mechanism. Flexible gigahertz TFTs are shown to be naturally suitable for high-performance RF/microwave applications under mechanical bending (deformation) environment. This letter provides insight on designing and employing flexible gigahertz active devices.

Keywords

bending; elemental semiconductors; equivalent circuits; flexible electronics; microwave transistors; silicon; thin film transistors; RF applications; RF characterization; Si; bending conditions; bending strains; cutoff frequency; deformation environment; equivalent circuit model; flexible channel-length silicon TFT; flexible channel-length silicon thin-film transistor; flexible gigahertz active devices; gigahertz flexible silicon thin-film transistor; high-performance RF applications; high-performance microwave applications; maximum oscillation frequency; mechanical bending environment; notable monotonic performance enhancement; plastic substrates; radiofrequency characterization; size 1.5 mum; uniaxial mechanical bending conditions; Performance evaluation; Plastics; Radio frequency; Silicon; Strain; Substrates; Thin film transistors; Bending strain; flexible electronics; modeling; silicon nanomembrane (SiNM); thin-film transistor (TFT);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LED.2012.2231853

Filename

6407731