An organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) memory was fabricated using deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as a gate dielectric layer. Since natural DNA contains intrinsic ions and water molecules, the OTFT exhibited low resistivity and a low on/off ratio because of the mobile ions. In order to remove these mobile ions from DNA, it was complexed with a bulky surfactant through an electrostatic interaction. The OTFT fabricated using a DNA–surfactant complex exhibited a relatively high on/off ratio because of the decrease in the off-current. Residual ions that remained in the complex caused a decrease in the cell performance with respect to parameters such as the on/off ratio and long-term memory stability. When poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) was layered on the DNA–surfactant layer, the OTFT exhibited better on-current and long-term memory stability than a typical OTFT. The pentacene layer deposited on the PMMA surface as a semiconductor had a relatively large grain size and relatively high crystallinity. This contributed to an increase in the hole mobility in the pentacene layer and the prevention of the abovementioned adverse effects of the residual ions. Consequently, the performance of the OTFT memory having the DNA complex was considerably improved.
A piezoelectric effect, such as actuation behavior with voltage application, could be observed from a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) fibrous mat fabricated by electrospinning. This fibrous mat increased or decreased its thickness in accordance with the polarity of the applied voltage, which appears to be an inverse piezoelectric effect. The appearance dT constant was as large as 8.5 nm/V owing to the softness of the fibrous structure, and the coupling constant KT = 0.31 indicated its efficient piezoelectric property. This piezoelectric behavior was repeatedly observed to be stable at room temperature. In addition, the polarization components of the fibrous mat, which are considered to be the origin of its piezoelectric effect, and its relaxation behavior were confirmed from the results of thermally stimulated current measurements.
A thin-film transistor (TFT) non-volatile memory (NVM) device was fabricated using α-helix poly(γ-methyl-L-glutamate) (PMLG) as a ferroelectric layer. In order to study the mechanism of memory driving, the temperature dependence of transfer characteristics and memory performance was investigated. It was revealed that the cooperative movement of the large dipole moment along the rod-like main chain and that of the small dipole moment in the side chain played an important role in the memory function.
4 March 2016 in Japanese Journal of Applied Physics
We investigated hybrid organic–inorganic complementary inverters with a solution-processed indium–gallium–zinc-oxide (IGZO) n-channel thin-film transistor (TFT) and p-channel TFTs using the high-uniformity polymer poly[2,5-bis(alkyl)pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrolo-1,4(2H,5H)-dione-alt-5,5-di(thiophene-2-yl)-2,2-(E)-2-(2-(thiophen-2-yl)vinyl)thiophene] (PDVT-10). The IGZO TFT was fabricated at 150 °C for 1 min. It showed a high field-effect mobility of 0.9 cm2·V−1·s−1 and a high on/off current ratio of 107. A hybrid complementary inverter was fabricated by combining IGZO with a PDVT-10 thin-film transistor and its operation was confirmed.