Manchester and Shandong collaborate on nanoscale transistor for flexible displays

Researchers at the University of Manchester and Shandong University, China have developed a fast nanoscale oxide semiconductor-based TFT for flexible displays in devices, including wearable electronic devices.

The teams report that this is the first oxide-semiconductor based transistor capable of operating at a benchmark speed of 1GHz. The hope is that this could be used in LCDs to make smartphones and HD TVs faster, brighter and more flexible than currently possible.

Compared with the conventional silicon-based TFTs, which are opaque, rigid and more expensive, oxide TFTs may enable medium or even high performance flexible electronic circuits, said Aimin Song, Professor of nanoelectronics at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Manchester.

“TVs can already be made extremely thin and bright. Our work may help make TV more mechanically flexible and even cheaper to produce,” he said, adding “but, perhaps even more importantly, our GHz transistors may enable medium or even high performance flexible electronic circuits, such as truly wearable electronics.” Possible application areas are smart homes, smart hospitals and smart cities, he speculates.

Oxide-based technology has replaced amorphous silicon in some devices, already and this development could bring the commercialisation of the technology much closer, believes Professor Song.

He added: “To commercialise oxide-based electronics there is still a range of research and development that has to be carried out on materials, lithography, device design, testing, and last but not the least, large-area manufacturing. It took many decades for silicon technology to get this far, and oxides are progressing at a much faster pace.

“Making a high performance device, like our GHz IGZO transistor, is challenging because not only do materials need to be optimised, a range of issues regarding device design, fabrication and tests also have to be investigated. In 2015, we were able to demonstrate the fastest flexible diodes using oxide semiconductors, reaching 6.3 GHz, and it is still the world record to date. So we’re confident in oxide-semiconductor based technologies.”