Solution processing is a scalable means of depositing large-area electronics for applications in displays, sensors, smart windows, and photovoltaics. However, solution routes typically yield films with electronic quality inferior to traditional vacuum deposition, as the solution precursors contain excess organic ligands, counterions, and/or solvent that leads to porosity in the final film. We show that electrolysis of aq. mixed metal nitrate salt solutions drives the formation of indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) precursor solutions, without purification, that consist of ∼1 nm radii metal−hydroxo clusters, minimal nitrate counterions, and no organic ligands. Films deposited from cluster precursors over a wide range of composition are smooth (roughness of 0.24 nm), homogeneous, dense (80% of crystalline phase), and crack-free. The transistor performance of IGZO films deposited from electrochemically synthesized clusters is compared to those from the starting nitrate salt solution, sol−gel precursors, and, as a control, vacuum-sputter-deposited films. The average channel mobility (μ AVE ) of air-annealed cluster films (In:Ga:Zn = 69:12:19) at 400°C was ∼9 cm 2 V −1 s −1 , whereas those of control nitrate salt and sol−gel precursor films were ∼5 and ∼2 cm 2 V −1 s −1 , respectively. By incorporating an ultrathin indium−tin−zinc oxide interface layer prior to IGZO film deposition and airannealing at 550°C, a μ AVE of ∼30 cm 2 V −1 s −1 was achieved, exceeding that of sputtered IGZO control films. These data show that electrochemically derived cluster precursors yield films that are structurally and electrically superior to those deposited from metal nitrate salt and related organic sol−gel precursor solutions and approach the quality of sputtered films.

We demonstrate a reflective polarizer-free electro-optical switch using dye-doped polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystals (DDPSBP-LC). At the voltage-off state, the dye molecules and liquid crystals form the structure of the double twist cylinders. As a result, the DDPSBP-LC is in dark state due to the combination of Bragg reflection and light absorption. At the voltage-on state, the blue phase structure is unwound locally. The DDPSBP-LC is then in bright state because of the small light absorption only. The applications of such a switch are shutter glass of 3D displays, and electronic papers.

Abstract— A reflective polarizer‐free display using dye‐doped polymer‐stabilized blue‐phase liquid crystal (DDPSBP‐LC) has been demonstrated. The mechanism is a combination of electrically tunable light absorption and Bragg reflection. In this paper, the influence of light absorption in DDPSBP‐LC by changing the dye concentration and absorption paths has been studied. Increased dye concentration can improve the contrast ratio of DDPSBP‐LC; however, the response time is the tradeoff. Increasing the cell gap can improve the contrast ratio of DDPSBP‐LC; however, the response time remains the same. The study of DDPSBP‐LC can help in shutter‐glass applications of 3‐D displays and electronic paper.

Light-based additive manufacturing methods have been widely used to print high-resolution 3D structures for applications in tissue engineering, soft robotics, photonics, and microfluidics, among others. Despite this progress, multi-material printing with these methods remains challenging due to constraints associated with hardware modifications, control systems, cross-contaminations, waste, and resin properties. Here, we report a new printing platform coined Meniscus-enabled Projection Stereolithography (MAPS), a vat-free method that relies on generating and maintaining a resin meniscus between a crosslinked structure and bottom window and to print lateral, vertical, discrete, or gradient multi-material 3D structures with little-to-no cross-contamination or waste. We also show that MAPS is compatible with a wide range of resins and can print complex multi-material 3D structures without requiring specialized hardware, software, or complex washing protocols. MAPSs ability to print structures with microscale variations in mechanical stiffness, opacity, surface energy, cell densities, and magnetic properties provides a generic method to make advanced materials for a broad range of applications.

A bias temperature stress (BTS) investigation of amorphous InGaZnO thin-film transistors (a-IGZO TFTs) is undertaken using the stretched-exponential (SE) relation to model the threshold voltage shift (ΔVTH) as a function of time, temperature, and applied gate voltage. Explicitly, the SE equation employed herein is described as ΔVTH (t, T, VG) = (VG-VTH0) (1-exp(-(t/τ)β)), where VTH0 is the initial unstressed TFT threshold voltage, τ is a trapping time, τ = τ0exp(Eτ/kBT), where τ0 is a trapping time prefactor, Eτ is an energy barrier, and β is an energy barrier parameter [1, 2]. Simulation indicates that a larger τ and/or β results in less ΔVTH, i.e., a more stable a-IGZO TFT. An alternate form of the SE voltage prefactor (VG-VTH0) involves the use of V0, which is identified as a saturation voltage [3, 4]. Either prefactor formulation can be used to accurately fit ΔVTH trends for stress times less than ~3 hours. However, as shown in Fig. 1, fitting of a sample data set restricted to stress times less than 3 hours leads to dramatically different saturated threshold voltage shifts, even though both prefactors precisely fit the initial 2 hours of data (see insert of Fig. 1). Physically, this is associated with the fact that the (VG-VTH0) prefactor corresponds to the applied overvoltage which explicitly depends on VG, while V0 is independent of VG. Simulation is useful for revealing various kinds of ΔVTH (t, T, VG) trends. For example, Fig. 2(a) shows that the relevant energy barrier, Eτ, associated with ΔVTH (10-5 s, 300 K, VG = 30 V) is very narrow for β = 1 and broadens dramatically as β → 0. The Eτ-β relationship is better represented by taking the derivative of ΔVTH with respect to Eτ, as shown in Fig. 2(b), where the magnitude of the peak increases and the distribution of Eτ narrows as β increases. As a larger β is indicative of a more stable TFT, it is reasonable to theorize that a narrow Eτ distribution is meaningful in predicting stable long-term TFT reliability. [1] M. Mativenga, et al., “High stable amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide thin-film transistor using an etch-stopper and a via-hole structure,” Journal of Information Display, Vol. 12, No. 1, 47-50 (2011) [2] T. Y. Hsieh, et al., “Investigating degradation behavior of InGaZnO thin-film transistors induced by charge-trapping effect under DC and AC gate bias stress,” Thin Solid Films, 528, 53-56 (2013) [3] J. M. Lee, et al., “Bias-stress-induced stretched-exponential time dependence of threshold voltage shift in InGaZnO thin film transistors,” Applied Physics Letters, 93, 093304 (2008) [4] S. Park, et al., “Threshold voltage shift prediction for gate bias stress on amorphous InGaZnO thin film transistors,” Microelectronics Reliability, 52, 2215-2219 (2012) Figure 1