Fully Transparent Thin-Film Transistors Based on Aligned Carbon Nanotube Arrays and Indium Tin Oxide Electrodes

The development of mechanically flexible and/or optically transparent electronics could enable next-generation electronics technologies, which would be easy-to-read, light-weight, unbreakable, transparent, and flexible. Potential applications could include transparent monitors, heads-up displays, and conformable products. Recent reports have demonstrated transparent thin film transistors (TFTs) using channels consisting of semiconductor nanowires (ZnO, SnO2, or In2O3) and random networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs).[1,2] Transparent TFTs are attractive for the drive circuitry in transparent and/or flexible active matrix display devices. These devices could overcome the limitations of conventional polycrystalline silicon and amorphous silicon thin film transistors, such as low mobility, nontransparency, or high temperature processing.[3–5