Lateral-coupling coplanar-gate oxide-based thin-film transistors on bare paper substrates

For conventional thin-film transistors (TFTs), bottom-gate or top-gate configuration is always adopted because the channel current is generally controlled by vertical capacitive coupling. In this article, depending on huge lateral electric-double-layer (EDL) capacitor induced by spatial movement of protons in phosphosilicate glass (PSG) solid electrolyte dielectrics, coplanar-gate indium-zinc-oxide (IZO)-TFTs based on the lateral capacitive coupling were fabricated on bare paper substrates. The PSG solid electrolyte films here were used at the same time as gate dielectrics and smooth buffer layers. These TFTs showed a low-voltage operation of only 1 V with a large field-effect mobility of 13.4 cm(2) V-1.s, a high current on/off ratio of 6 x 10(6) and a small subthreshold swing of 75 mV/decade. Furthermore, with introducing another coplanar gate, AND logic operation was also demonstrated on the coplanar dual-gate TFTs. These simple lateral-coupling coplanar-gate IZO-TFTs on bare paper substrates are very promising for low-cost portable sensors and bio-electronics.