Selective Conversion from p-Type to n-Type of Printed Bottom-Gate Carbon Nanotube Thin-Film Transistors and Application in Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Inverters.
The fabrication of printed high-performance and environmentally stable n-type single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) transistors and their integration into complementary (i.e., complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor, CMOS) circuits are widely recognized as key to achieving the full potential of carbon nanotube electronics. Here, we report a simple, efficient, and robust method to convert the polarity of SWCNT thin-film transistors (TFTs) using cheap and readily available ethanolamine as an electron doping agent. Printed p-type bottom-gate SWCNT TFTs can be selectively converted into n-type by deposition of ethanolamine inks on the transistor active region via aerosol jet printing. Resulted n-type TFTs show excellent electrical properties with an on/off ratio of 106, effective mobility up to 30 cm2V-1s-1, small hysteresis, and small subthreshold swing (90-140 mV dec-1), which are superior compared to the original p-type SWCNT devices. The n-type SWCNT TFTs also show good stability in air, and any deterioration of performance due to shelf storage can be fully recovered by a short low-temperature annealing. The easy polarity conversion process allows construction of CMOS circuitry. As an example, CMOS inverters were fabricated using printed p-type and n-type TFTs and exhibited a large noise margin (50 and 103% of 1/2 Vdd= 1 V) and a voltage gain as high as 30 (at Vdd= 1 V). Additionally, the CMOS inverters show full rail-to-rail output voltage swing and low power dissipation (0.1 μW at Vdd= 1 V). The new method paves the way to construct fully functional complex CMOS circuitry by printed TFTs.
Printable Electronics Research Centre, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , No. 398 Ruoshui Road, SEID, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province 215123, P.R. China.|Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shanghai 200032, P.R. China.|School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University , Shanghai 201210, P.R. China.
Qiqi
Q
Xu
Printable Electronics Research Centre, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , No. 398 Ruoshui Road, SEID, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province 215123, P.R. China.
Jianwen
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5548-5469
J
Zhao
Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, Soochow University , 199 Ren'ai Road, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, P.R. China.
Vincenzo
V
Pecunia
Printable Electronics Research Centre, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , No. 398 Ruoshui Road, SEID, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province 215123, P.R. China.
Wenya
W
Xu
Printable Electronics Research Centre, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , No. 398 Ruoshui Road, SEID, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province 215123, P.R. China.
Chunshan
C
Zhou
Printable Electronics Research Centre, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , No. 398 Ruoshui Road, SEID, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province 215123, P.R. China.
Junyan
J
Dou
Printable Electronics Research Centre, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , No. 398 Ruoshui Road, SEID, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province 215123, P.R. China.
Weibing
W
Gu
Printable Electronics Research Centre, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , No. 398 Ruoshui Road, SEID, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province 215123, P.R. China.
Jian
J
Lin
Beijing Engineering Research Center of Printed Electronics, Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication , No.1 Xinghua Street, Daxing District, Beijing 102600, P.R. China.
Lixin
L
Mo
Vacuum Interconnected Nanotech Workstation, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , No. 398 Ruoshui Road, SEID, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province 215123, P.R. China.
Yanfei
Y
Zhao
Printable Electronics Research Centre, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , No. 398 Ruoshui Road, SEID, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province 215123, P.R. China.
Zheng
Z
Cui
ethanolamine; n-type and p-type; printed CMOS inverters; printed thin film transistors; selective polarity conversion; sorted semiconducting carbon nanotube