Poly(imide-benzoxazole) gate insulators with high thermal resistance for solution-processed flexible indium-zinc oxide thin-film transistors

Abstract

We prepared a poly(imide-benzoxazole) gate insulator for solution-processed flexible metal oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs). The electrical insulating property of the poly(imide-benzoxazole) gate insulator is maintained up to at least 350 °C. The 350 °C-annealed indium-zinc oxide (IZO) TFT with the poly(imide-bezoxazole) gate insulator showed excellent TFT performance with the field-effect mobility of 9.2 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ and the on/off current ratio of 1.5 × 10⁶. A flexible IZO TFT with the poly(imide-bezoxazole) gate insulator was also fabricated directly on a flexible Kapton substrate. The flexible IZO TFT with the poly(imide-bezoxazole) gate insulator could be operated during bending. Before bending, the mobility and on/off current ratio were 4.1 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ and 4.7 × 10⁵, respectively. During bending with a radius of 10 mm, the mobility was maintained and the on/off current ratio was slightly decreased to 3.2 × 10⁵.