High Performance Metal-Insulator Transistors for Flexible Electronics

We propose to develop and demonstrate thin-film transistors (TFTs) capable of operation at microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies. These ultra-fast devices are based on a patented metal-insulator tunneling hot electron transistor structure. Comprising thin films of only metals and dielectrics, our TFTs require only low temperature processing and should be inherently compatible with large-area, flexible, polymer substrates. Microwave TFTs will enable a number of important defense, scientific, and commercial applications. Our two goals for the Phase I effort are to: 1) demonstrate, using simulations, the feasibility of microwave TFT performance; and 2) demonstrate experimentally the compatibility of basic metal-insulator tunneling devices with polymer substrates. The main thrust of Phase II efforts will be to build metal-insulator TFTs and demonstrate their microwave performance and compatibility with flexible polymer substrates.