Strain-dependent characteristics of triangular silicon nanowire-based field-effect transistors on flexible plastics

Top-gate field-effect transistors (FETs) based on triangular silicon nanowires (SiNWs) obtained from a silicon bulk wafer using a conventional silicon manufacturing technology are constructed on flexible plastic substrates. Their field-effect mobility and peak transconductance are enhanced by 10% in the upwardly bent state and by 29% in the downwardly bent state at a strain of 1.02%, compared with the flat state. The strain effect resulting from the bending of the flexible substrates is higher in the downward state than in the upward state, and the increase in strain improves the performance of SiNW-based FETs. Moreover, their device performance is stable even after bending the substrate several thousand times.