Advances in the fabrication of graphene transistors on flexible substrates.
Graphene is an ideal candidate for next generation applications as a transparent electrode for electronics on plastic due to its flexibility and the conservation of electrical properties upon deformation. More importantly, its field-effect tunable carrier density, high mobility and saturation velocity make it an appealing choice as a channel material for field-effect transistors (FETs) for several potential applications. As an example, properly designed and scaled graphene FETs (Gr-FETs) can be used for flexible high frequency (RF) electronics or for high sensitivity chemical sensors. Miniaturized and flexible Gr-FET sensors would be highly advantageous for current sensors technology for in vivo and in situ applications. In this paper, we report a wafer-scale processing strategy to fabricate arrays of back-gated Gr-FETs on poly(ethylene naphthalate) (PEN) substrates. These devices present a large-area graphene channel fully exposed to the external environment, in order to be suitable for sensing applications, and the channel conductivity is efficiently modulated by a buried gate contact under a thin Al2O3insulating film. In order to be compatible with the use of the PEN substrate, optimized deposition conditions of the Al2O3film by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) at a low temperature (100 °C) have been developed without any relevant degradation of the final dielectric performance.
CNR-IMM, VIII Strada 5, 95121 Catania, Italy.
Gabriele
G
Fisichella
STMicroelectronics, Stradale Primosole 50, 95121 Catania, Italy.
Stella
S
Lo Verso
STMicroelectronics, Stradale Primosole 50, 95121 Catania, Italy.
Silvestra
S
Di Marco
STMicroelectronics, Stradale Primosole 50, 95121 Catania, Italy.
Vincenzo
V
Vinciguerra
CNR-IMM, VIII Strada 5, 95121 Catania, Italy.
Emanuela
E
Schilirò
CNR-IMM, VIII Strada 5, 95121 Catania, Italy.
Salvatore
S
Di Franco
CNR-IMM, VIII Strada 5, 95121 Catania, Italy.
Raffaella
R
Lo Nigro
CNR-IMM, VIII Strada 5, 95121 Catania, Italy.
Fabrizio
F
Roccaforte
Graphenea, Tolosa Hiribidea 76, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain.
Amaia
A
Zurutuza
Graphenea, Tolosa Hiribidea 76, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain.
Alba
A
Centeno
STMicroelectronics, Stradale Primosole 50, 95121 Catania, Italy.
Sebastiano
S
Ravesi
CNR-IMM, VIII Strada 5, 95121 Catania, Italy.
Filippo
F
Giannazzo
atomic layer deposition; chemical sensing; field effect transistor; flexible electronics; graphene