Investigation of organic thin-film transistors for electrostatic discharge applications

Low-voltage, pentacene-based organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) are characterized under the electrostatic discharge (ESD) stresses. The measurements are conducted using the transmission line pulsing (TLP) tester which generates the human body model (HBM) equivalent pulses. The ESD performances and tolerances of OTFTs having different gate biasing conditions and dimensions are investigated. A HBM-ESD robustness of 702V can be achieved by gate-grounded OTFT with a width of 3.8 cm and multi-finger drain/source layout. OTFT´s failure mechanism and DC performance degradation due to the ESD stresses are also studied by post-stress DC characterization and microscopy observation.