RUI: Organic Vapor-Liquid-Solid Deposition

本计画将探讨一种以有机汽液固沉积法制备有机分子晶体薄膜的新方法。OVLS沉积结合了气相沉积与使用液体或液晶基质的溶液相生长的方面，与常规物理气相沉积（PVD）技术相比提供了几个重要的优点。它们包括在大气压力下进行沉积的能力，衬底接近环境温度，微晶尺寸比PVD薄膜大得多，与各种分子构建块和蒸汽发生方法的兼容性，以及对生长习性，薄膜形态和晶体取向施加更大控制的能力。这项研究将总共培训6至9名本科生和1至2名高中生。在过去的十年里，一种新的非常有前途的技术开始出现，其目的是用有机分子取代传统电子产品中使用的硅。这种技术有时被称为“塑料电子”，最终可能被用来生产成本极低、重量轻、机械灵活的电子设备，如可以显示彩色图像的墙纸或织物、收集太阳能的屋顶瓦片，以及可以保留和保护信息的信用卡。然而，塑料电子产品在产生广泛的商业影响之前必须克服几个技术障碍。其中之一是关于用于导电的分子薄膜的质量。使用当前的方法，这些膜具有许多缺陷，这些缺陷只能使用非常昂贵的制造方法来消除。这项研究将研究一种新的方法来制备塑料电子产品的薄膜，这可能会显着提高性能，同时降低生产成本。这项研究将主要由本科生在化学家和物理学家的合作下进行。

This project will investigate a new approach for fabricating organic molecular crystals (OMC) as films by organic vapor-liquid-solid (OVLS) deposition. OVLS deposition combines aspects of vapor-phase deposition with solution-phase growth using a liquid or liquid crystalline matrix, offering several important advantages compared to conventional physical vapor deposition (PVD) techniques. They include the ability to perform deposition at atmospheric pressure with the substrate near ambient temperature, crystallites much larger in size than PVD films, compatibility with a wide range of molecular building blocks and vapor generation methods, as well as the ability to exert greater control over growth habit, film morphology, and crystallographic orientation. The research will train a total of six to nine undergraduates and one to two high school students.%%%Over the last ten years a new and very promising technology has begun to emerge which aims to replace the silicon used in conventional electronics with organic molecules. Sometimes referred to as "plastic electronics," this technology may eventually be used to produce extremely low cost, light weight and mechanically flexible electronic devices such as wallpaper or fabrics that can display color images, roof tiles to collect solar energy, and credit cards that can retain and secure information. However plastic electronics must overcome several technical hurdles before having widespread commercial impact. One of these concerns the quality of the thin films of molecules used to conduct electricity. Using current approaches, these films have numerous flaws which can only be eliminated using very expensive fabrication methods. This research will investigate a new approach to preparing films for plastic electronics that may result in significantly improved performance, while lowering the cost of production. The research will be carried out primarily by undergraduate students in a collaboration involving chemists and physicists.