Flexible and Transparent Thin-Film Transistors Based on Two-Dimensional Materials for Active-Matrix Display

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted significant attention because of their outstanding electrical, mechanical, and optical characteristics. Because all of the conducting (graphene), semiconducting (molybdenum disulfide, MoS2), and insulating (hexagonal boron nitride, h-BN) components can be constructed from 2D materials, thin-film transistors based on 2D materials (2D TFTs) have been developed. However, scaling-up is necessary for these technologies to go beyond their initial implementation using the mechanical exfoliation method. Furthermore, it would be beneficial to find a method to realize high flexibility and/or transparency to their full potential. In this study, large-scale, flexible, and transparent 2D TFTs are developed and demonstrated as a backplane in active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes (AMOLEDs). With the optical chemical vapor deposition of the 2D materials, flexible (bending radius < 1 mm) and transparent (transmittance > 70%) TFTs with high electrical performances (mobility ≈ 10 cm2 V–1 s–1, on/off current ratio > 106) can be achieved. Furthermore, 2D TFTs are integrated into OLEDs by connecting the source electrode of the TFT to the anode of the OLED via a single graphene film, thus demonstrating pixel-by-pixel driving through a 2D TFT array in an active-matrix configuration.