Development of High-Performance Organic Thin-Film Transistors for Large-Area Displays

Organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) are considered indispensable in applications requiring flexibility, large area, low processing temperature, and low cost. Key challenges to be addressed include developing solution-processable gate dielectric materials that form uniform films over large areas and exhibit excellent insulating properties, reducing contact resistance at interfaces between organic semiconductors and electrodes, and optimizing the patterning of organic semiconductors. High-performance pentacene-based OTFTs have been reported with polymeric gate dielectrics and indium tin oxide source/drain electrodes. Using such OTFT backplates, a 15-in. 1024 × 768 pixel full-color active-matrix liquid-crystal display (AMLCD) and a 4.5-in. 192 × 64 pixel active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) have been fabricated.