High-Toughness and High-Ductility Gold Electrodes for High-Performance Deformable Organic Transistor Arrays

Electrodes with good electrical conductivity and mechanical stability are key to achieving high-performance deformable electronic devices. The Au electrode offers high conductivity, a work function matched to P-type semiconductors, and compatibility with lithography processes. However, the Young's modulus of Au electrode does not match that of commonly used flexible substrates, limiting their application in deformable electronics. Here, a micropatterned Au electrode with high robustness and high ductility is prepared using a photopolymer substrate. Based on this strategy, a high performance deformable active-matrix organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) array is fabricated. The transistor array exhibits a maximum mobility of 2.7 cm²V^-1s^-1 and its performance remains essentially unchanged after 500 bending cycles. The active-matrix OTFT array achieves a density of up to 10,000 units cm^-2, with gate lead widths as narrow as 10 µm. These results demonstrate that Au electrodes prepared with this strategy hold strong potential for future deformable and wearable electronics.