A Device Design Approach to Mitigate Strain Impact on Stretchable Carbon-Nanotube Thin-Film Transistors

Intrinsically stretchable electronics offer mechanical compatibility with a variety of curvilinear objects, opening possibilities for emerging applications that were inaccessible by conventional rigid or flexible electronics. Recent advancements in material innovations and fabrication techniques have led to significant enhancement of stretchable transistor performance (e.g., the field-effect mobility of >10 cm ² /V•S at sub-10 μm channel length), rivaling that of flexible electronics. However, under strain, intrinsic stretchability unfortunately introduces inherent large changes in device characteristics, substantially limiting their practical applications. In this work, we investigate the impact of strain on device performance and demonstrate a circular transistor design to effectively mitigate the effects of strain on electrical characteristics. The strain-induced change in on-current is significantly reduced from 56% to 3% at 30% strain by counteracting the performance variations observed across different segments of a 360° transistor channel.