Strain-Sensor-In-Pixel Technology for Resolution-Sustainable Stretchable Displays.

One of the limitations of stretchable displays is the severe degradation of resolution or the decrease in the number of pixels per unit area when stretched. Hence, we suggest a strain-sensor-in-pixel (S-SIP) system through the adoption of hidden pixels that are activated only during the stretch mode for maintaining the density of on-state pixels. For the S-SIP system, the gate and source electrodes of InGaZnO thin-film transistors (TFTs) in an existing pixel are connected to a resistive strain sensor through the facile and selective deposition of silver nanowires (AgNWs) via electrohydrodynamic-jet-printing. With this approach, the strain sensor integrated TFT functions as a strain-triggered switch, which responds only to stretching along the designated axes by finely tuning the orientation and cycles of AgNW printing. The strain sensor-integrated TFT remains in an off-state when unstretched and switches to an on-state when stretched, exhibiting a large negative gauge factor of -1.1 × 1010 and a superior mechanical stability enduring 6000 cycles, which enables the efficient structure to operate hidden pixels without requiring additional signal processing. Furthermore, the stable operation of the S-SIP in a 5 × 5-pixel array is demonstrated via circuit simulation, implying the outstanding applicability and process compatibility to the conventional active-matrix display backplanes.

Strain-Driven Negative Resistance Switching of Conductive Fibers with Adjustable Sensitivity for Wearable Healthcare Monitoring Systems with Near-Zero Standby Power.

Recently, one of the primary concerns in e-textile-based healthcare monitoring systems for chronic illness patients has been reducing wasted power consumption, as the system should be always-on to capture diverse biochemical and physiological characteristics. However, the general conductive fibers, a major component of the existing wearable monitoring systems, have a positive gauge-factor (GF) that increases electrical resistance when stretched, so that the systems have no choice but to consume power continuously. Herein, a twisted conductive-fiber-based negatively responsive switch-type (NRS) strain-sensor with an extremely high negative GF (resistance change ratio ≈ 3.9 × 108 ) that can significantly increase its conductivity from insulating to conducting properties is developed. To this end, a precision cracking technology is devised, which could induce a difference in the Young's modulus of the encapsulated layer on the fiber through selective ultraviolet-irradiation treatment. Owing to this technology, the NRS strain-sensors can allow for effective regulation of the mutual contact resistance under tensile strain while maintaining superior durability for over 5000 stretching cycles. For further practical demonstrations, three healthcare monitoring systems (E-fitness pants, smart-masks, and posture correction T-shirts) with near-zero standby power are also developed, which opens up advancements in electronic textiles by expanding the utilization range of fiber strain-sensors.

Mechanically Durable Organic/High-k Inorganic Hybrid Gate Dielectrics Enabled by Plasma-Polymerization of PTFE for Flexible Electronics.

To achieve both the synergistic advantages of outstanding flexibility in organic dielectrics and remarkable dielectric/insulating properties in inorganic dielectrics, a plasma-polymerized hafnium oxide (HfOx) hybrid (PPH-hybrid) dielectric is proposed. Using a radio-frequency magnetron cosputtering process, the high-k HfOx dielectric is plasma-polymerized with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), which is a flexible, thermally stable, and hydrophobic fluoropolymer dielectric. The PPH-hybrid dielectric with a high dielectric constant of 14.17 exhibits excellent flexibility, maintaining a leakage current density of ∼10-8 A/cm2 even after repetitive bending stress (up to 10000 bending cycles with a radius of 2 mm), whereas the HfOx dielectric degrades to be leaky. To evaluate its practical applicability to flexible thin-film transistors (TFTs), the PPH-hybrid dielectric is applied to amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (IGZO) TFTs as a gate dielectric. Consequently, the PPH-hybrid dielectric-based IGZO TFTs exhibit stable electrical performance under the same harsh bending cycles: a field-effect mobility of 16.99 cm2/(V s), an on/off current ratio of 1.15 × 108, a subthreshold swing of 0.35 V/dec, and a threshold voltage of 0.96 V (averaged in nine devices). Moreover, the PPH-hybrid dielectric-based IGZO TFTs exhibit a reduced I-V hysteresis and an enhanced positive bias stress stability, with the threshold voltage shift decreasing from 4.99 to 1.74 V, due to fluorine incorporation. These results demonstrate that PTFE improves both the mechanical durability and electrical stability, indicating that the PPH-hybrid dielectric is a promising candidate for high-performance and low-power flexible electronics.

Polyimide-Doped Indium-Gallium-Zinc Oxide-Based Transparent and Flexible Phototransistor for Visible Light Detection.

We report a transparent and flexible polyimide (PI)-doped single-layer (PSL) phototransistor for the detection of visible light. The PSL was deposited on a SiO2 gate insulator by a co-sputtering process using amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (IGZO) and PI targets simultaneously. The PSL acted as both a channel layer and a visible-light absorption layer. PI is one of the few flexible organic materials that can be fabricated into sputtering targets. Compared with the IGZO phototransistor without PI doping, the PSL phototransistor exhibited improved optoelectronic characteristics under illumination with 635 nm red light of 1 mW/mm2 intensity; the obtained photoresponsivity ranged from 15.00 to 575.00 A/W, the photosensitivity from 1.38 × 101 to 9.86 × 106, and the specific detectivity from 1.35 × 107 to 5.83 × 1011 Jones. These improvements are attributed to subgap states induced by the PI doping, which formed decomposed organic molecules, oxygen vacancies, and metal hydroxides. Furthermore, a flexible PSL phototransistor was fabricated and showed stable optoelectronic characteristics even after 10,000 bending tests.

Simultaneously Defined Semiconducting Channel Layer Using Electrohydrodynamic Jet Printing of a Passivation Layer for Oxide Thin-Film Transistors.

A simple fabrication method for homojunction-structured Al-doped indium-tin oxide (ITO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) using an electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jet-printed Al2O3 passivation layer with specific line (WAl2O3) is proposed. After EHD jet printing, the specific region of the ITO film below the Al2O3 passivation layer changes from a conducting electrode to a semiconducting channel layer simultaneously upon the formation of the passivation layer during thermal annealing. The channel length of the fabricated TFTs is defined by WAl2O3, which can be easily changed with varying EHD jet printing conditions, i.e., no need of replacing the mask for varying patterns. Accordingly, the drain current and resistance of the fabricated TFTs can be modified by varying the WAl2O3. Using the proposed method, a transparent n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS) inverter with an enhancement load can be fabricated; the effective resistance of load and drive TFTs is easily tuned by varying the processing conditions using this simple method. The fabricated NMOS inverter exhibits an output voltage gain of 7.13 with a supply voltage of 10 V. Thus, the proposed approach is promising as a low-cost and flexible manufacturing system for multi-item small-lot-sized production of Internet of Things devices.

Artificially Fabricated Subgap States for Visible-Light Absorption in Indium-Gallium-Zinc Oxide Phototransistor with Solution-Processed Oxide Absorption Layer.

We present a solution-processed oxide absorption layer (SAL) for detecting visible light of long wavelengths (635 and 532 nm) for indium-gallium-zinc oxide (IGZO) phototransistors. The SALs were deposited onto sputtered IGZO using precursor solutions composed of IGZO, which have the same atomic configuration as that of the channel layer, resulting in superior interface characteristics. We artificially generated subgap states in the SAL using a low annealing temperature (200 °C), minimizing the degradation of the electrical characteristics of thin-film transistor. These subgap states improved the photoelectron generation in SALs under visible light of long wavelength despite the wide band gap of IGZO (∼3.7 eV). As a result, IGZO phototransistors with SALs have both high optical transparency and superior optoelectronic characteristics such as a high photoresponsivity of 206 A/W and photosensitivity of ∼106 under the influence of a green (532 nm) laser. Furthermore, endurance tests proved that the IGZO phototransistor with SALs can operate stably under red laser illumination switched on and off at 0.05 Hz for 7200 s.

Simple Hydrogen Plasma Doping Process of Amorphous Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide-Based Phototransistors for Visible Light Detection.

A homojunction-structured amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) phototransistor that can detect visible light is reported. The key element of this technology is an absorption layer composed of hydrogen-doped a-IGZO. This absorption layer is fabricated by simple hydrogen plasma doping, and subgap states are induced by increasing the amount of hydrogen impurities. These subgap states, which lead to a higher number of photoexcited carriers and aggravate the instability under negative bias illumination stress, enabled the detection of a wide range of visible light (400-700 nm). The optimal condition of the hydrogen-doped absorption layer (HAL) is fabricated at a hydrogen partial pressure ratio of 2%. As a result, the optimized a-IGZO phototransistor with the HAL exhibits a high photoresponsivity of 1932.6 A/W, a photosensitivity of 3.85 × 106, and a detectivity of 6.93 × 1011 Jones under 635 nm light illumination.

Electric Field-aided Selective Activation for Indium-Gallium-Zinc-Oxide Thin Film Transistors.

A new technique is proposed for the activation of low temperature amorphous InGaZnO thin film transistor (a-IGZO TFT) backplanes through application of a bias voltage and annealing at 130 °C simultaneously. In this 'electrical activation', the effects of annealing under bias are selectively focused in the channel region. Therefore, electrical activation can be an effective method for lower backplane processing temperatures from 280 °C to 130 °C. Devices fabricated with this method exhibit equivalent electrical properties to those of conventionally-fabricated samples. These results are analyzed electrically and thermodynamically using infrared microthermography. Various bias voltages are applied to the gate, source, and drain electrodes while samples are annealed at 130 °C for 1 hour. Without conventional high temperature annealing or electrical activation, current-voltage curves do not show transfer characteristics. However, electrically activated a-IGZO TFTs show superior electrical characteristics, comparable to the reference TFTs annealed at 280 °C for 1 hour. This effect is a result of the lower activation energy, and efficient transfer of electrical and thermal energy to a-IGZO TFTs. With this approach, superior low-temperature a-IGZO TFTs are fabricated successfully.