Dense Assembly of Finely Patterned Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes via a Selective Transfer Method of Nanotube-Attracting Layers

Abstract

Development of technology for assembled single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) film with the fine resolution is an essential technique for penetrating practical electronic applications. A promising approach is the assembly method by adding a chemical-functionalizing substrate to enhance affinity between the SWCNTs and the substrate. However, the various introduced approaches for solution-based assembly have suffered from low SWCNT deposition selectivity or low SWCNT deposition density. Herein, we demonstrated a facile method for selectively assembling semiconducting SWCNT network on the substrate. The substrate was prepared via a transfer printing of a poly-L-lysine (PLL)-coated poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) stamp. The thermal-assisted transfer method enabled an ultrafine PLL pattern (<= 4 mu m) and a high transfer yield (96.5%) by only one-time stamping without a change of the SWCNT-attracting nature. So, semiconducting SWCNTs were deposited on the patterned regions selectively and precisely. The benefit of the patterned semiconducting SWCNTs was lowering leakage current and turn-on voltage in the transfer characteristics by suppressing attachment of unnecessary SWCNT network. They showed excellent electrical performance, a log(10) (I-on/I-off) ratio of 4.76, and an average value of linear field-effect mobility of 7.56 cm(2)/(V s). This research provides a simple but high-quality assembling technique of semiconducting SWCNTs, thereby improving the feasibility of solution-processed SWCNT-TFTs.