NEC Confirms Feasibility of Environmentally Friendly Electronic Devices Using CNTs
14 February 2008
NEC Corporation announced the successful development of a carbon nanotube (CNT) transistor using a coating process. The basic operation of the new transistor with advanced characteristics has been verified, confirming its application in the printed electronics field.
According to the company, the demand for electronics has rapidly increased in recent years along with environmental concern. This has brought about the need for more advanced electronic products that simultaneously achieve reduced environmental impact. Organic transistors and other printed electronics are one potential solution to this problem. Printed electronics' technologies are unique in that they allow transistors to be formed by printing directly onto the substrate. This means that manufacturing processes can be dramatically simplified in comparison to conventional semiconductors; waste materials generated through manufacturing processes can be reduced, and CO2 emissions can be reduced by more than 90 percent.
The channel materials of conventional research organic transistors generally demonstrate little mobility and are therefore considered unsuitable for electronic devices with high-speed operation. The basic operations for a transistor formed using this coating process were confirmed for the newly developed CNT transistor, which adopts CNTs as its channel material to allow 100 times greater mobility than regular organic transistors. The research results prove the potential of CNTs as a core transistor material, even in the field of printed electronics. Further research is expected to show the potential to dramatically expand the scope of printed electronics applications, the company said.
NEC added that it views the new CNT transistor technology as key to the development of electronic devices with minimal environmental impact, and will continue to proactively conduct research in this area to realize environmentally-sound products.
