Plasma activation of thermoplastic polymer surfaces enables nanotransfer printing (NTP) at dramatically lower processing temperatures. Polar functional groups introduced by plasma surface activation render the polymer surfaces hydrophilic and cause a dramatic increase in interfacial adhesion, thus lowering the temperature at which NTP can be successfully performed to below the glass‐transition temperature of each polymer.

No abstract

A model for the electrical conductance of a semiconductive substrate with an average thickness is proposed for a region of initial growth before the appearance of a tunneling effect. Based on this model, we propose 6 different growth modes according to the film thickness, measuring in situ electrical conductivity. As the film thickness increased, the island size was constant and then increased, while the number of islands first increased and then decreased. The proposed model may be useful for in situ study of the growth of ultrathin films prior to the onset of tunneling conductance.

We have fabricated highly stable organic electroluminescent devices based on spin-coated poly-p-phenylene-vynylene (PPV) thin films. The electrical properties of aluminum cathode, prepared by ion beam assisted deposition, on PPV have been investigated and compared to those by thermal evaporation. Although energetic particles of Al assisted by Ar C ion may damage the organic material, I-V-L characteristics are improved by applying thin Al buffer layer. In addition, a dense Al cathode inhibits the permeation of H 2 O and O 2 into PPV film through pinhole defects, and thus retards dark spot growth. It may be deduced from highly packed structure of Al cathode with an increase in the contact area between Al and PPV that reduce the contact resistance. In conclusion, the lifetime of organic light-emitting device (OLED) has been extended effectively by dense Al film through ion beam assisted deposition process. q

To study the damage mechanism of an emitting polymer [poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) (PFO)] during indium tin oxide (ITO) sputtering for top-emission organic light-emitting diodes (TEOLEDs), we treat PFO with low pressure remote RF (LPRF) plasma. The surface energy of PFO is changed by LPRF plasma treatment with the minimum damage condition. By the surface energy control of PFO, the Al metal shows continuous layer growth, which is attributed to the reduction of polymer damage as a buffer layer. From the results of light–current–voltage (L–I–V) characteristics and photoluminescence (PL) measurement, the main factors of polymer damage are both the energetic particles such as Ar neutral atoms and negative ions and the photo oxidation of emitting polymer. We discuss the damage mechanism during sputtering and characterize electronic energy level of the damaged PFO layer.