Laser-Printed Organic Electronic Devices

有机电子材料是柔性电子产品的通用候选材料，但它们在消费者应用中的采用受到当前工艺的限制，这些工艺还不能以制造规模和低成本提供高性能器件阵列。该研究项目将通过使用激光打印来应对这一挑战，激光打印是一种无溶剂的、无处不在的技术，从未用于制造电子设备。在这里，薄膜沉积是从熔融相完成的，这允许对其结构特性进行很大的控制，同时是环境友好的，快速的，低成本的，高产量的，并且可直接扩展到大面积电子产品。通过降低复杂、耗时的传统多步骤制造工艺所需的成本和复杂性，结果将加速有机光电器件在消费技术中的应用，并对美国经济和社会产生强大的积极影响。此外，这个跨学科的研究计划为研究生，本科生和高中生提供培训机会，包括非传统和代表性不足的少数民族学生，这将使他们成为科学事业的领导者。该项目将介绍一种用于制造有机光电器件的创新技术，并将回答有关结构，加工，以及激光印刷有机器件中的性能。具体目标是：（1）通过激光印刷不同电子功能的连续层来制造高性能有机薄膜晶体管（OTFT），（2）推进对激光印刷有机半导体/接触和有机半导体/电介质界面处的电荷传输的基本理解，以及（3）建立半导体纯度、微结构和器件性能之间的关系。研究分为三个阶段。第一阶段的重点是在传统的晶体管结构上印刷商业上可用的和定制的有机半导体。第二阶段将建立在这一知识的基础上，开发具有印刷半导体和聚合物薄膜的OTFT，以及由“调色剂光刻”定义的电极，其中激光印刷的图案起到荫罩的作用，随后通过化学处理去除。在第3阶段，我们将扩展我们的研究结果，以涵盖所有激光打印的OTFT。

Organic electronic materials are versatile candidates for flexible electronics, but their adoption in consumer applications has been limited by the current processes which cannot yet deliver high-performance device arrays at manufacturing scale and low cost. This research project will address the challenge by using laser printing, a solvent-free, ubiquitous technology that has never been used to manufacture electronic devices. Here, film deposition is done from a melt phase, which allows a great control of its structural properties, while being environmentally friendly, fast, low-cost, high-throughput, and directly scalable to large-area electronics. By reducing the cost and complexity necessitated by elaborate, time-consuming traditional multistep manufacturing processes, results will accelerate the incorporation of organic opto-electronic devices in consumer technologies, and have a strong, positive impact on the US economy and society. In addition, this interdisciplinary research program offers training opportunities for graduate, undergraduate, and high school students, including nontraditional and underrepresented minority students, that will position them for leadership in scientific careers.This project will introduce an innovative technology for the manufacturing of organic opto-electronic devices and will answer critical questions about the structure, processing, and properties in laser printed organic devices. Specific objectives are: (1) to fabricate high-performance organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) by laser printing consecutive layers of different electronic functionalities, (2) to advance the fundamental understanding of charge transport at laser printed organic semiconductor / contact and organic semiconductor / dielectric interfaces, and (3) to establish the relationship among semiconductor purity, microstructure and device performance. The research is structured in three phases. Phase 1 focuses on printing commercially available and custom modified organic semiconductors on conventional transistor structures. Phase 2 will build on this knowledge to develop OTFTs with printed semiconductors and polymer dielectrics, and electrodes defined by "Toner lithography", in which the laser printed patterns serve the role of shadow masks, subsequently removed by chemical treatment. In Phase 3 we will extend our findings to encompass all-laser-printed OTFTs.