A Flexible Amorphous $Bi_5Nb_3O_{15}$ Film for the Gate Insulator of the Low-Voltage Operating Pentacene Thin-Film Transistor Fabricated at Room Temperature

The amorphous $Bi_5Nb_3O_{15}$ film grown at room temperature under an oxygen-plasma sputtering ambient (BNRT-$O_2$ film) has a hydrophobic surface with a surface energy of $35.6\;mJm^{-2}$, which is close to that of the orthorhombic pentacene ($38\;mJm^{-2}$, resulting in the formation of a good pentacene layer without the introduction of an additional polymer layer. This film was very flexible, maintaining a high capacitance of $145\;nFcm^{-2}$ during and after 10s bending cycles with a small curvature radius of 7.5 mm. This film was optically transparent. Furthermore, the flexible, pentacene-based, organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) fabricated on the polyethersulphone substrate at room temperature using a BNRT-$O_2$ film as a gate insulator exhibited a promising device performance with a high field effect mobility of $0.5\;cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$, an on/off current modulation of $10^5$ and a small subthreshold slope of $0.2\;Vdecade^{-1}$ under a low operating voltage of -5 V. This device also maintained a high carrier mobility of $0.45\;cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$ during the bending with a small curvature radius of 9 mm. Therefore, the BNRT-$O_2$ film is considered a promising material for the gate insulator of the flexible, pentacene-based OTFT.