Spin on dopants for high-performance single-crystal silicon transistors on flexible plastic substrates

Free-standing micro/nanoelements of single-crystal silicon with integrated doped regions for contacts provide a type of material that can be printed onto low-temperature device substrates, such as plastic, for high-performance mechanically flexible thin-film transistors (TFTs). We present simple approaches for fabricating collections of these elements, which we refer to as microstructured silicon (μs-Si), and for using spin-on dopants to introduce doped regions in them. Electrical and mechanical measurements of TFTs formed on plastic substrates with this doped μs-Si indicate excellent performance. These and other characteristics make the material potentially useful for emerging large area, flexible ‘macroelectronic’ devices.