Effects of Bending Stress on 6,13-Bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) Pentacene (TIPS-PEN)-Based Organic Thin-Film Transistors

Abstract

We have fabricated highly flexible 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS-PEN) thin-film transistors with poly(methylmethacrylate)/Al2O3 bilayer gate dielectrics on plastic films with a mobility of 0.04 cm2/Vs, and have measured their electrical properties under compressive strain and tensile strain. We investigated the effect of bending strain on the devices under two different conditions that induce strain: one in which the device was bent after TIPS-PEN was deposited on a flat substrate and the other in which the device was flattened after TIPS-PEN was deposited on a bent substrate. Both compressive strain and tensile strain were found to lead to an increase in the on current and mobility for both types of devices but the magnitudes of the changes in the on current and mobility were different for each device. In addition, the strain-induced changes were observed to be irreversible. © 2017 by American Scientific Publishers.