Editorial Feature

Semiconductor Materials for Flexible and Transparent Electronics

Semiconducting materials are the primary building blocks for electronic devices. As new coating techniques influence the development of flexible and transparent electronics, researchers look to semiconductor materials to innovate these devices further.

Semiconductor Materials for Flexible and Transparent Electronics

Image Credit: P A/Shutterstock.com

Flexible and Transparent Electronics: Current Market

A market survey for transparent electronics reported by IDTechEx predicts market growth of twenty billion dollars by 2041. According to the report, thin film transistors (TFTs), display devices, photovoltaics, smart windows are a few of the transparent electronics likely to be the highest in demand.

Another report by IDTechEX showcases the importance of flexible electronics and predicts the roadmap of such technologies. Various applications such as flexible displays, textile electronics, electronic skin patches need semiconductors that cover large areas over the flexible substrates.

Many multinational companies are involved in the flexible and transparent electronics industry. For example, KODAK reportedly offers a state-of-the-art facility for the fabrication of flexible and transparent devices to researchers for the manufacture of prototypes.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., LG Electronics, 3M Co., E Ink Holding Inc. are other examples of flexible and transparent electronics manufacturers.

Semiconductors for Flexible and Transparent Electronics

Generally speaking, the materials mainly studied for transparent and flexible electronics are amorphous semiconductors, semiconducting transparent oxides, metal chalcogenides, and nanowires.

A journal article published in Advanced Materials by Sun et al. summarizes work exploring the application of inorganic semiconducting materials as a coating for plastic substrates.

Amorphous silicon (a-Si) is one of the dominant materials in semiconductor industry after the single crystalline Si. As for flexible devices, single-crystal Si is not suitable for flexible electronics because of its brittle nature. Hence, a-Si is preferred over single-crystal silicon for various applications.

Amorphous semiconductors are more commonly used for flexible devices due to the possibility of large-scale uniform deposition of these materials having low-temperature processibility.

One publication in Nature demonstrated the fabrication of transparent thin film transistors (TFT) using transparent amorphous oxide semiconductors (amorphous-In-Ga-Zn-O, referred as, a-IGZO). High charge mobility, room temperature processing and stable performance under bending conditions were found to be the material's advantages.

2D Semiconductors for Flexible and Transparent Electronics

Semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted much attention from researchers due to their structural behavior. These materials are reported to have a layered structure, with properties relating to the number of layers. Such tunability of their properties makes it a favorable material for flexible and transparent electronics.

Two-dimensional materials are the most suitable materials for flexible and transparent electronics. Heterostructures of such 2D materials are reported to have excellent flexibility, transparency and charge transport properties. Other 2D semiconducting materials reported include transition metal oxides and metal chalcogenides.

In work published by Das et al., demonstrated the fabrication of transparent TFT composed of entirely 2D materials. The TFTs had a monolayer of graphene as the metal electrodes, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) as a dielectric material and tungsten diselenide (WSe2) as a semiconducting material.

The carrier mobility in the transistor was recorded ~100 times more than that recorded by a-Si-based TFTs. The device showed good temperature stability, along with several other parameters ideal for enhancing TFTs.

In another work by Yu et al., large-scale deposition of two-dimensional graphene and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) heterostructure was achieved through chemical vapor deposition. The work reports of high-performing devices and circuits fabricated with the heterostructure, the performances of which were compared with the traditional MoS2-metal contact.

Future Scope and Commercial Viability

Much research is towards the direction of developing alternate materials and coating techniques with the goal of decreasing the device cost and increasing the performance.

Various substrates are explored that can be applied to blendable and stretchable electronics. Substrates such as metallic foils, plastic sheets and paper were explored as substrates for flexible devices.

Building devices over flexible and transparent substrates have few constraints, such as processing temperature. Plastic substrates are much more suitable for such applications but require a processing temperature below the glass transition temperature, after which the plastic will degrade.

Research interest in this area extends to devices that could have the properties of stretchability. Developing such devices is reported to be possible by employing elastomeric substrates with strong molecular interactions.

Investigations into flexible and transparent materials and substrates for device fabrication could open up a wide range of exciting applications such as flexible lighting, wearable charging devices, implantable bioelectronics, wearable sensors that could monitor the health of patients, novel display architecture for consumer electronics and many more.

Flexible and transparent electronics have a long way to go before being available for consumer use. With increased interest in the applications of semiconductor materials in this field, we are likely to see the field grow in the future.

How to Make a Semiconductor Wafer

References and Further Reading

IDTechEx. Available at: https://www.idtechex.com/en/research-report/transparent-electronics-materials-markets-2021-2041/795.

IDTechEX. Available at: https://www.idtechex.com/en/research-article/what-does-2023-hold-for-printed-flexible-electronics/28172

Website for more information: https://www.kodak.com/en/advanced-materials/page/flexible-printed-electronics

Sun, Y. and Rogers, J.A., (2007). Inorganic semiconductors for flexible electronics. Advanced Materials19(15), pp.1897-1916. doi.org/10.1002/adma.200602223.

Nomura, K., Ohta, H., Takagi, A., Kamiya, T., Hirano, M. and Hosono, H., (2004). Room-temperature fabrication of transparent flexible thin-film transistors using amorphous oxide semiconductors. Nature432(7016), pp.488-492. doi.org/10.1038/nature03090

Das, S., Gulotty, R., Sumant, A.V. and Roelofs, A., (2014). All two-dimensional, flexible, transparent, and thinnest thin film transistor. Nano Letters14(5), pp.2861-2866. doi.org/10.1021/nl5009037.

Yu, L., Lee, Y.H., Ling, X., Santos, E.J., Shin, Y.C., Lin, Y., Dubey, M., Kaxiras, E., Kong, J., Wang, H. and Palacios, T., (2014). Graphene/MoS2 hybrid technology for large-scale two-dimensional electronics. Nano Letters14(6), pp.3055-3063. doi.org/10.1021/nl404795z.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the author expressed in their private capacity and do not necessarily represent the views of AZoM.com Limited T/A AZoNetwork the owner and operator of this website. This disclaimer forms part of the Terms and conditions of use of this website.

Gopika G, Ph.D

Written by

Gopika G, Ph.D

Gopika received a PhD degree in Engineering, MTech in Nano Technology and BE in Electronics and Communication Engineering. Her research work during her PhD was based on applications of 2D layered transition metal di-chalcogenide materials in excitonic solar cells. She is interested in pursuing research in 2D materials-based wearable electronics and solar cells. Gopika is a self motivated person, a good team players, and has good interpersonal skills and leadership qualities.

Citations

Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

  • APA

    G, Gopika. (2023, August 18). Semiconductor Materials for Flexible and Transparent Electronics. AZoNano. Retrieved on October 04, 2024 from https://www.azonano.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6512.

  • MLA

    G, Gopika. "Semiconductor Materials for Flexible and Transparent Electronics". AZoNano. 04 October 2024. <https://www.azonano.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6512>.

  • Chicago

    G, Gopika. "Semiconductor Materials for Flexible and Transparent Electronics". AZoNano. https://www.azonano.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6512. (accessed October 04, 2024).

  • Harvard

    G, Gopika. 2023. Semiconductor Materials for Flexible and Transparent Electronics. AZoNano, viewed 04 October 2024, https://www.azonano.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6512.

Tell Us What You Think

Do you have a review, update or anything you would like to add to this article?

Leave your feedback
Your comment type
Submit

While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for medical information you must always consult a medical professional before acting on any information provided.

Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles.

Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Read the full Terms & Conditions.