SNM: High-Throughput Scalable Nanomanufacturing of High-Performance Organic Devices

有机半导体将使显示器、探测器和生物医学传感器等技术变得轻便、灵活、低成本。制造电子设备需要能够在不同的层中对不同的材料进行图案设计，以定义设备的设计空间。有机电子器件发展的一个重大障碍是缺乏具有光刻技术在传统微电子技术中发挥的破坏性力量的图形技术。因此，迫切需要开发能够生产亚微米分辨率的有机半导体结构的可扩展和快速光模式方法。正如三维3D打印机是一种低成本零件制造的使能工具一样，这一可扩展纳米制造（SNM）奖项将使纳米级多层有机电子器件制造的解决方案加工步骤得以发展。这项研究涉及科学、工程和工业伙伴在化学、材料、光学加工和化学工艺开发方面的合作。纳米制造所需的基础知识将被整合到大学课程中，并通过研究实习转移给本科生。研究生将通过与帕洛阿尔托研究中心（PARC）的合作体验实际的行业合作伙伴关系。下一代研究人员，尤其是少数族裔，将参与电子领域的4-H项目。由于溶液印刷或通过阴影掩膜蒸发的固有局限性，溶液印刷有机电子器件的分辨率被限制在10 μ m。由于有机材料的相互溶解度和混溶性以及与光掩膜去除相关的材料损伤，光刻技术也受到限制。在本研究项目中，我们开发了一种新的方法，其中有机半导体本身的溶解度由光可逆电荷转移化学控制，使有机电子材料的衍射限制图像化成为可能。这一技术突破使得利用光暴露在有机半导体或半导体内掺杂水平的图像化成为可能。研究团队将探索新的电荷转移掺杂剂的化学合成，以使该技术应用于更广泛的半导体阵列，光学处理以减少写入次数和特征尺寸，化学处理以使每个顺序步骤与高吞吐量卷对卷处理一致，其最终重点是开发具有掺杂有机电极，图案门和高开关速度的全有机晶体管阵列。利用帕洛阿尔托研究中心的学生实习和设备，纳米制造过程将扩大到更大的区域。

Organic semiconductors will enable technologies like displays, detectors, and biomedical sensors that are light weight, flexible, and low-cost. Manufacturing electronic devices requires the ability to pattern different materials in separate layers to define the design space for a device. A significant obstacle for the development of organic electronic devices is the lack of a patterning technology with the disruptive power that photolithography exerted in traditional microelectronics. There is therefore a critical need to develop scalable and rapid photopatterning methods capable of producing organic semiconductor structures with sub-micrometer resolution. Just as the three-dimensional 3D printer is an enabling tool for low cost part fabrication, this Scalable NanoManufacturing (SNM) award will enable development of solution processing steps for the fabrication of nanoscale multi-layer organic electronic devices. This research involves collaboration between science, engineering, and industry partners in chemistry, materials, optical processing, and chemical process development. The fundamental knowledge needed for nanomanufacturing will be integrated into university curricula and transferred to undergraduate students through research internships. Graduate students will experience hands-on industry partnerships through collaboration with Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). The next generation of researchers, particularly minorities, will be engaged through involvement in 4-H projects in electronics.Resolution on solution-printed organic electronics has been limited to 10's of µm due to the inherent limitations of solution printing or evaporation through a shadow mask. Photolithography has also been limited due to mutual solubility and miscibility of organic materials and material damage associated with photomask removal. In this research program we develop a new approach in which the solubility of the organic semiconductor itself is controlled by photo-reversible charge-transfer chemistry, enabling diffraction-limited patterning of organic electronic materials. This technical breakthrough enables the patterning of either the organic semiconductor or the doping level within the semiconductor using light exposure. The research team will explore chemical synthesis of new charge transfer dopants to enable the application of this technology to a broader array of semiconductors, optical processing to reduce write times and feature size, and chemical processing to make each sequential step consistent with high-throughput roll-to-roll processing, the ultimate focus of which is the development of all-organic transistor arrays with doped organic electrodes, patterned gates, and high switching speeds. The nanomanufacturing process will be scaled-up to large areas using student internships and equipment at PARC.