Recently, our research group A.P. Zhang Min and Jiao Haoxuan published a study entitled “Intrinsically stretchable all-carbon-nanotube transistors with styrene–ethylene–butylene–styrene as gate dielectrics integrated by photolithography-based process”in RSC ADVANCES, with A.P. Zhang Min as the corresponding author and Jiao Haoxuan as the first author.

In this work, we have introduced a plasma resistant layer to protect the polymer dielectrics and elastomer substrate from plasma etching or long-term UV light. Based on that, we have realized integratable stretchable all-carbon-nanotube thin film transistors by the traditional lithography–etching-based process platform. In this design, we adopt an organic material, styrene–ethylene–butylene–styrene (SEBS), as gate dielectric considering its lower viscosity and hysteresis performance. And we use carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as channel and electrode materials in the all-carbon-nanotube transistors.

In conclusion, we have realized intrinsically stretchable transistors by traditional photolithography and O₂ plasma etching based process. These transistors have small channel length of 20 μm and channel width of 56 μm, which is a prominent size for stretchable transistors. These transistors show a high carrier mobility of 10.45 cm²V^-1s^-1, with I_on/I_off over 10³ on its initial state. Even after they are stretched by 50% tension for 500 times, they can still maintain relatively good electrical characteristics, with the mobility kept at 2.01 cm²V^-1s^-1 and the I_on/I_off kept at 10³. This work provides a good solution to achieve high mobility, miniaturization and integration of stretchable transistors. Hopefully, this integration method based on the traditional process platform can play an important role in shaping the future of stretchable electronics.