41 Printing Technology and Advantage of Purified Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes for Thin Film Transistors

摘要

Single-wall carbon nanotubes (CNTs) [1] have a large intrinsic mobility [2] and are expected to be useful as a new electronic material. However, their electronic structures depend on their diameters and chirality, where one-third of the pristine CNTs are metallic (m-) and the other two-thirds are semiconducting (s-) [3]; thus, they intrinsically contain metallic contamination. Therefore, it is crucial to mitigate the effect of m-CNTs when making use of CNTs as semiconducting materials. There are two approaches, increasing s-CNT purity and decreasing the influence of m-CNT. Using a CNT random network as a thin film transistor (TFT) channel [4] is one of the best ideas to prevent device shorts caused by m-CNTs. According to the simulation work, a CNT random network is tolerant to m-CNT contamination [5]. Furthermore, CNT random networks are compatible with solution processes such as s-CNT purification [6] and printing fabrication. The device yield and performance of a CNT random network TFT can be increased by the use of purified s-CNTs.