Sensors (Jan 2018)

Photo-Induced Room-Temperature Gas Sensing with a-IGZO Based Thin-Film Transistors Fabricated on Flexible Plastic Foil

  • Stefan Knobelspies,
  • Benedikt Bierer,
  • Alwin Daus,
  • Alain Takabayashi,
  • Giovanni Antonio Salvatore,
  • Giuseppe Cantarella,
  • Alvaro Ortiz Perez,
  • Jürgen Wöllenstein,
  • Stefan Palzer,
  • Gerhard Tröster

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/s18020358
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 18, no. 2
p. 358

Abstract

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We present a gas sensitive thin-film transistor (TFT) based on an amorphous Indium–Gallium–Zinc–Oxide (a-IGZO) semiconductor as the sensing layer, which is fabricated on a free-standing flexible polyimide foil. The photo-induced sensor response to NO2 gas at room temperature and the cross-sensitivity to humidity are investigated. We combine the advantages of a transistor based sensor with flexible electronics technology to demonstrate the first flexible a-IGZO based gas sensitive TFT. Since flexible plastic substrates prohibit the use of high operating temperatures, the charge generation is promoted with the help of UV-light absorption, which ultimately triggers the reversible chemical reaction with the trace gas. Furthermore, the device fabrication process flow can be directly implemented in standard TFT technology, allowing for the parallel integration of the sensor and analog or logical circuits.

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