Backplanes, OTFT

With the availability of an OTFT as basic building block it is possible to realize more functionality on the backplane than just the active matrix. This enables shifting functional blocks, for example drivers, from outside the backplane on to the backplane, which is advantageous for the complexity and cost of the total system. When drivers are integrated on to the backplane, the amount of silicon is reduced, as also is the number of connections needed from the driving electronics to the backplane. 

S. Bums, Paper-like Displays Enable by Flexible AM OTFT Backplane , Proceeding of Plastic Electronics, Frankfurt (2006). 

Mechanical flexibility. OTFTs will enable flexible displays that can be rolled up or wrapped around curved objects. This is because OTFTs can be fabricated at or not mnch above room temperature, allowing backplanes to be made on plastic substrates. 

In the fabrication of OTFT backplanes there are complications related to the order in which the organic semiconductor and source/drain contacts are deposited and how they are patterned. The semiconductor must be patterned in order to avoid large leakage currents through the ungated areas. Complications arise because the... 

FIGURE 6.4.14 A portion of an OTFT backplane for a PDLC display using pentacene devices on a PEN substrate. 

Measurements of feedthrough using high-impedance probing of a-Si TFT and OTFT electrophoretic pixels are shown in Daniel, J.H. et al.. Flexible electrophoretic displays with jet-printed active matrix backplanes, SID Int. Symp. Dig. Tech. Papers, 36, 1630, 2005. 

Organic thin film transistor (OTFT) backplanes for displays Organic sensors for single use devices... 

Additional products, such as displays with OTFT backplanes (e.g., for mobile phones), printed radio frequency tags, organic photovoltaic cells and organic memory, will likely reach the market to pilot customers in 2009. Within the next 2-5 years, it is expected that all the above mentioned applications will be available in large volumes to the mass market. 

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