The Hope of Cheap Electronic Age: Carbon Nanotube Transistors

Researchers have recently discovered a new method that can quickly and easily fabricate high-performance thin-film transistors on plastic substrates.

The discovery was made by Professor Yutaka Ohno of Nagoya University in Japan and Esko I of Aalto University in Finland. Professor Kauppinen and his research team have successfully used this new technology to create the world’s first logic circuit created by carbon nanotubes.

They believe that if this kind of carbon nanotube plastic substrate manufacturing technology can be successfully implemented, semiconductor companies will be able to produce flexible electronic products such as electronic paper at the lowest cost, thus creating a new era of cheap electronic products.

In our information-explosive society, flexible light-weight devices such as flexible mobile phones and electronic papers are becoming more and more popular, and the degree of attention is getting higher and higher. However, the flexible electronic parts they require are very difficult to manufacture, and they are naturally very expensive.

In recent years, carbon nanotubes with excellent conductivity and chemical stability have been used more in transistor substrates. However, despite advances in the process of fabricating nanotube thin-film transistors, the functionality of these transistors has not been able to match single nanometers. Compared to tube transistors, nanotubes' properties can fade during processing.

The new method is now discovered where nanotubes are grown in atmospheric pressure and then collected using a filter. The result is a thin film that is then transferred from the filter to the plastic and can provide a clean film in a matter of seconds. The entire process also uses an R2R rapid manufacturing technology.

This research result has been published in the electronic version of the nanotechnology academic journal Natural Nanotechnology published on February 6th.