Inorganic Core, Polymer Shell Nanocomposite as Novel Gate Dielectric for Flexible Electronics Applications.

In order to improve thin film transistor performance, a gate dielectric material that exhibits a high dielectric constant and is also capable of forming smooth and flexible films would be valuable. In pursuit of this goal, it would be desirable to combine the ease of processing of organic polymers with the high dielectric constant of inorganic oxides such as titanium dioxide. To this end, organic/inorganic core shell nanoparticles have been synthesized using high K TiO2 as the core nanoparticle, and polystyrene as the shell. These materials form transparent, continuous thin films which exhibit a dielectric constant enhancement of over three times that of bulk polystyrene. This new dielectric material has been incorporated into capacitors and thin film transistors.