Electrical properties of flexible multi-channel Si nanowire field-effect transistors depending on the number of Si nanowires.

Flexible multi-channel Si nanowire (NW) field-effect transistors (FETs) were investigated to determine the effect of the number of Si NWs. The Langmuir-Blodgett method was applied for the formation of well-aligned Si NW monolayers, and an ion-gel with a high dielectric constant was used as a gate insulator in a top-gate TFT structure to secure flexibility. Like typical nanoelectronic devices, the drain current changed with the number of Si NWs. However, unlike previous reports, the mobility of the multi-channel Si NW FETs increased from 42.8 to 124.6 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) as the number of Si NWs was increased from 1 to 58. To verify the feasibility of our approach, the electrical performance of the TFTs fabricated on a flexible polyimide (PI) substrate was analyzed in respect of the bending strain (0.08-1.51%) and bending cycle (up to 12 000 cycles). As the number of Si NWs was increased, the trade-off between electrical and mechanical properties during bending tests was confirmed, and the appropriate number of Si NWs was optimized for a flexible FET with excellent performance.