Electronic Devices Based on Oxide Thin Films Fabricated by Fiber-to-Film Process

Technical development for thin-film fabrication is essential for emerging metal-oxide (MO) electronics. Although impressive progress has been achieved in fabricating MO thin films, the challenges still remain. Here, we report a versatile and general thermal-induced nanomelting technique for fabricating MO thin films from the fiber networks, briefly called fiber-to-film (FTF) process. The high quality of the FTF-processed MO thin films was confirmed by various investigations. The FTF process is generally applicable to numerous technologically relevant MO thin films, including semiconducting thin films (e.g., In₂O₃, InZnO, and InZrZnO), conducting thin films (e.g., InSnO), and insulating thin films (e.g., AlO _x). By optimizing the fabrication process, In₂O₃/AlO _x thin-film transistors (TFTs) were successfully integrated by fully FTF processes. High-performance TFT was achieved with an average mobility of ∼25 cm²/(Vs), an on/off current ratio of ∼10⁷, a threshold voltage of ∼1 V, and a device yield of 100%. As a proof of concept, one-transistor-driven pixel circuit was constructed, which exhibited high controllability over the light-emitting diodes. Logic gates based on fully FTF-processed In₂O₃/AlO _x TFTs were further realized, which exhibited good dynamic logic responses and voltage amplification by a factor of ∼4. The FTF technique presented here offers great potential in large-area and low-cost manufacturing for flexible oxide electronics.