Electronic Devices Based on Oxide Thin Films Fabricated by Fiber-to-Film Process

Technical development for thin-film fabrication is essential for emerging metal-oxide (MO) electronics. Although impressive progress has been achieved in fabricating MO thin films, the challenges still remain. Here, we report a versatile and general thermal-induced nanomelting technique for fabricating MO thin films from the fiber networks, briefly called fiber-to-film (FTF) process. The high quality of the FTF-processed MO thin films was confirmed by various investigations. The FTF process is generally applicable to numerous technologically relevant MO thin films, including semiconducting thin films (e.g., In2O3, InZnO, and InZrZnO), conducting thin films (e.g., InSnO), and insulating thin films (e.g., AlOx). By optimizing the fabrication process, In2O3/AlOxthin-film transistors (TFTs) were successfully integrated by fully FTF processes. High-performance TFT was achieved with an average mobility of ∼25 cm2/(Vs), an on/off current ratio of ∼107, a threshold voltage of ∼1 V, and a device yield of 100%. As a proof of concept, one-transistor-driven pixel circuit was constructed, which exhibited high controllability over the light-emitting diodes. Logic gates based on fully FTF-processed In2O3/AlOxTFTs were further realized, which exhibited good dynamic logic responses and voltage amplification by a factor of ∼4. The FTF technique presented here offers great potential in large-area and low-cost manufacturing for flexible oxide electronics.