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产生的一系列行业中是至关重要的。随着薄膜技术的不断发展，气溶胶喷射印刷（AJP）作为一种无表面限制的功能材料沉积方法近年来引起了工业界的兴趣。AJP涉及油墨的雾化，随后是光束准直和空气动力学聚焦，然后撞击在基底上。金属氧化物和金属硫属化物是可用于向油墨添加功能的重要类别的半导体材料;它们可与AJP结合使用，作为在各种基底上获得半导体功能的手段，为可印刷电子产品提供实用途径。本工作的目的是使用AJP合成和存款p型氧化物材料，具有高空穴迁移率。将采用空气敏感的合成技术，以获得所需的材料，最初专注于Sn 6氧簇作为p型氧化锡（II）薄膜的路线。在通过气溶胶辅助化学气相沉积进行初步沉积之前，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-氧簇将被纳入油墨中，并使用Dimatix dmp-2800喷墨打印机打印，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。本文报告了拟使用的方法、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.