New type of transistors can be used to produce high-performance and high-performance flexible electronics
A team of engineers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison created what they called “the most functional and fast-acting thin-film transistor in the world.” In addition to having high electrical performance, such transistors can be produced through fast, simple and inexpensive production methods that can be easily expanded to the scale of mass industrial production. This achievement will allow developers in the near future to create new advanced wearable and mobile devices with high intellectual abilities and able to maintain their performance in compression, stretching and other types of deformation.
The new thin-film transistor is made using BiCMOS technology (bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductor). These transistors have high speed, are able to pass through a fairly large current, work at a relatively high voltage and have a small transitional resistance, which allows to reduce the amount of energy wasted in the form of heat released. At the same time, the entire structure of the transistor is applied to the surface of the silicon nanomembrane substrate during a single-stage process of high-temperature processing.
BiCMOS transistors are the preferred type of transistors for mixed signal processing devices that combine the processing of both analog and digital signals. These devices include most of the portable devices we use in everyday life, mobile phones, for example. “And now, thanks to the emergence of new transistors, such devices will be able to become flexible” – says Ma Jenqiang Ma, professor of electronics and electrical engineering.
With traditional technologies, the production of biCMOS-transistors is a long process that uses several stages of high-temperature processing. And even a slight deviation in the temperature of one stage can destroy elements of the structure of the future transistor, made with the help of previous stages.
“In industrial production, the process of manufacturing BiCMOS-transistors lasts about three months” – says Ma Yenkyang, – “Our process, thanks to the exclusion of many intermediate stages, allows you to meet in one week. And this together will allow the production of devices with such transistors in the very near futur
e.Source:dailytechinfo.org