Aerosol jet printed p- and n-type semiconductor materials: practical routes to printed electronics

高效率半导体薄膜的低成本制造在包括电子和能源生产在内的一系列行业中至关重要。随着薄膜技术的不断发展，气溶胶喷射打印（AJP）作为一种不受表面限制的沉积功能材料的方法最近引起了业界的兴趣。AJP包括油墨的雾化，然后是光束准直和空气动力学聚焦，然后再撞击基材。金属氧化物和金属硫族化合物是一类重要的半导体材料，可用于增加油墨的功能；它们可以与AJP结合使用，作为在广泛的基板上访问半导体功能的手段，为可印刷电子产品提供了一条实用的途径。本工作旨在利用AJP合成并沉积具有高空穴迁移率的p型氧化物材料。为了获得所需的材料，将采用空气敏感合成技术，最初将重点放在Sn6氧簇上，作为制备p型锡（II）氧化膜的途径。在通过气溶胶辅助化学气相沉积（AACVD）进行初步沉积之前，将使用一系列分析技术来确认合成材料的身份。在此之后，金属-氧簇将被合并到油墨中，并使用Dimatix dmp-2800喷墨打印机进行打印，在那里可以评估材料的广泛用途，同时了解成功AJP所需的最佳工艺参数。本文报告了拟采用的方法、对科学创新的潜在影响以及与这项工作相关的挑战。

The low cost fabrication of high efficiency semiconducting thin films is of paramount importance across a range of industries including electronics and energy generation. With the continual growth of thin film technologies, aerosol jet printing (AJP) has recently attracted interest in the industry as a nonsurface-limited way of depositing functional materials. AJP involves the aerosolisation of ink, followed by beam collimation and aerodynamic focusing, before impaction on a substrate. Metal oxides and metal chalcogenides are important classes of semiconducting materials that can be used to add functionality to inks; they can be used in conjunction with AJP as a means to accessing semiconducting functionality on a wide range of substrates, providing a practical route to printable electronics. This work aims to synthesise and deposit p-type oxide materials, with high hole mobility, using AJP. Air-sensitive synthesis techniques will be employed in order to access the desired materials, initially focusing on Sn6 oxo clusters as a route to p-type tin(II) oxide films. A range of analytical techniques will be used to confirm the identity of the synthesised material before preliminary deposition via aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD). Following this, the metal-oxo cluster will be incorporated in inks and printed using a Dimatix dmp-2800 inkjet printer where the materials can be assessed for a wide range of uses, whilst gaining an understanding of the optimal process parameters required for successful AJP. Reported herein are the proposed methodologies to be utilised, potential impact on scientific innovation and challenges associated with this work.