title: Instantaneous Pulsed-Light Cross-Linking of a Polymer Gate Dielectric for Flexible Organic Thin-Film Transistors.
abstract: We report the instantaneous pulsed-light cross-linking of polymer gate dielectrics on a flexible substrate by using intensely pulsed white light (IPWL) irradiation. Irradiation with IPWL for only 1.8 s of a poly(4-vinylphenol) (PVP) thin film with the cross-linking agent poly(melamine-co-formaldehyde) (PMF) deposited on a plastic substrate was found to yield fully cross-linked PVP films. It was confirmed that the IPWL-cross-linked PVP films have smooth pinhole-free surfaces and exhibit a low leakage current density, organic solvent resistance, and good compatibility with organic semiconductor, and that they can be used as replacements for typical PVP dielectrics that are cross-linked with time and energy intensive thermal heating processes. The synchronization of the IPWL irradiation with substrate transfer was found to enable the preparation of cross-linked PVP films on large area substrates with a highly uniform capacitance. Flexible OTFT based on IPWL-cross-linked PVP dielectrics were found to exhibit good electrical performance that is comparable to that of devices with thermally cross-linked PVP dielectric, as well as excellent deformation stability even at a bending radius of 3 mm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Korea University , 02841 Seoul, Korea.|Center for Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, Korea Institute of Science and Technology , 02792 Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Soo Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Organic Materials Engineering, Division of Nano-systems Engineering, Inha University , 22212 Incheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Mi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.affiliation: Center for Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, Korea Institute of Science and Technology , 02792 Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hee Yeon
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Korea University , 02841 Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jinhan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Sookmyung Women's University , 04310 Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Ho Sun
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Organic Materials Engineering, Division of Nano-systems Engineering, Inha University , 22212 Incheon, Korea.
authors.forename: Hoichang
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0585-8527
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Center for Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, Korea Institute of Science and Technology , 02792 Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jung Ah
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3007-3855
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lim
keywords: cross-linking; flexible substrate; gate dielectric; intensely pulsed white light; organic thin-film transistors