Flexible Metal Oxide Electrodes Based on Work Function Adaptation and the Application to Fully Transparent Thin Film Transistors with High Mobility

Abstract With the advancement of the times, there are increasingly higher demands for the transparency of flexible electronic components. The traditional transparent oxide electrodes, such as indium tin oxide (ITO) and aluminium zinc oxide (AZO), have high transmittances but also high resistivities. Moreover, for transparent electrodes, better mechanical stability and attachment would be needed. Therefore, in this paper, Nd‐Al‐indium zinc oxide (NdAlIZO)‐CuCrZr‐NdAlIZO multilayer electrodes are investigated. The ICI (IZO‐Cu‐IZO) transparent electrodes are prepared by utilizing the difference of work function to make the electron transfer spontaneously, which forms a high conductivity layer. The ICI electrodes obtain a transmittance of 75.1% while the resistivity is only 21. 6 µΩ cm and the quality factor is as high as 45.8 10⁻³Ω⁻¹. In addition, the flexible performance of the electrode is tested. The results show that the resistivityincreases to 29. 6 µΩ cm after 10 000 times bending, meaning that the ICI electrodes have good bending resistances. Finally, the transparent thin films transistors (TFT) is prepared under optimal conditions. The transmittance of the TFT is up to 93.6%, while the mobility is 68. 6 cm² Vs⁻¹, the on/off current ratio is 2.18 × 10⁶, the threshold voltage is 3.64 V, and the subthreshold swing is 0.12 V.