An intensive study on organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) for future flexible/wearable electronics applications

Future electronic gadgets will often require computer – human interaction, necessitating the use of conformal and flexible electronic devices. Because of its low cost, biocompatibility, high flexibility and lower temperature manufacturing, OTFTs have sparked a lot of research. OTFT arrays with high performance and good integrating density have been regarded as essential enablers for subtle displays, flexible circuits & sensors and electronic skins. OTFTs offered a mobility and I_ON/I_OFF of 10–43 cm²/Vs and 10⁶–10¹⁰ respectively. This article highlights the various architectures, emerging p/n-type organic semiconductor channel materials, substrate/dielectrics/electrode materials used for developing high performance OTFTs. This article also point out the emerging applications of OTFTs. The primary obstacle to the commercialization of OTFTs is the relatively high operating voltage that results from their high threshold voltage. High permittivity dielectrics are essential for reducing the operating voltage of OTFTs. Another major obstacle to the development of OTFTs, particularly for the manufacturing of flexible electronic circuits and sensors, is the scarcity of high performance n-type organic semiconductors. OTFTs find applications in flexible OLED displays, wearable electronics, sensors for biomedical, AI (artificial intelligence) and IoT (Internet of Things) applications, flexible integrated circuits, neuromorphic computing, smart labels and so on.