Ubiquitous Graphene Electronics on Scotch Tape

Abstract

We report a novel concept of graphene transistors on Scotch tape for use in ubiquitous electronic systems. Unlike common plastic substrates such as polyimide and polyethylene terephthalate, the Scotch tape substrate is easily attached onto various objects such as banknotes, curved surfaces, and human skin, which implies potential applications wherein electronics can be placed in any desired position. Furthermore, the soft Scotch tape serves as an attractive substrate for flexible/foldable electronics that can be significantly bent, or even crumpled. We found that the adhesive layer of the tape with a relatively low shear modulus relaxes the strain when subjected to bending. The capacitance of the gate dielectric made of oxidized aluminum oxide was 1.5 μF cm ⁻², so that a supply voltage of only 2.5 V was sufficient to operate the devices. As-fabricated graphene transistors on Scotch tape exhibited high electron mobility of 1326 (±155) cm ² V ⁻¹ s ⁻¹; the transistors still showed high mobility of 1254 (±478) cm ² V ⁻¹ s ⁻¹ even after they were crumpled.