A Dual Functional Diketopyrrolopyrrole‐Based Conjugated Polymer as Single Component Semiconducting Photoresist by Appending Azide Groups in the Side Chains

Abstract

Molecular systems that can function as photoresists are essential for the fabrication of flexible electronics through all‐photolithographic processes. Most of the reported molecular systems for photo‐patterning of polymeric semiconductors contain binary or multi‐components. In comparison, single component semiconducting photoresist is advantageous since it will circumvent the optimization of phase separation and ensure the patterned semiconducting thin films to be more uniform. In this paper, a single component semiconducting photoresist (PDPP4T‐N3) by incorporating azide groups into the branching alkyl chains of a diketopyrrolopyrrole‐based conjugated polymer is reported. The results reveal that i) the azide groups make the side chains to be photo‐cross‐linkable; ii) uniform patterns with size as small as 5 µm form under mild UV irradiation (365 nm, 85 mW cm−2) at ambient conditions; iii) such photo‐induced cross‐linking does not affect the inter‐chain packing; iv) benefiting from the single component feature, field‐effect transistors (FETs) with the individual patterned thin films display satisfactorily uniform performances with average charge mobility of 0.61 ± 0.10 cm2 V–1 s–1 and threshold voltage of 3.49 ± 1.43 V. These results offer a simple yet effective design strategy for high‐performance single component semiconducting photoresists, which hold great potentials for flexible electronics processed by all‐photolithography.

Patterning an Erosion-Free Polymeric Semiconductor Channel for Reliable All-Photolithography Organic Electronics

“…Furthermore, a down-scaled inverter array with a channel length of 5 μm was also fabricated. The unit logic gate area consumption of the inverter is only 0.0069 mm 2 , which is 1–3 orders of magnitude smaller than those of current all-photolithography organic inverters. ,,,− ,, Compared with the previously mentioned 10 μm inverters, the miniaturized organic inverters (Figures I and f and S12) maintain the uncompromised voltage inversion performance, with an average voltage gain of 25. Additionally, the highest gain reached 27.2, which is comparable to those of other all-photolithography organic inverters with larger sizes (Table S1).…”

“…The integration density of the miniaturized 15-stage ring oscillator reached 6780 Tr cm –2 . To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest integration density of organic circuits prepared by photolithography or printing technology (Figure g). ,,,− ,,,, The miniaturized 15-stage RO can work effectively. It should be mentioned that the oscillation frequency (6 Hz) is lower than those of previously reported organic ROs. , This can mostly be attributed to the dramatically reduced mobility of the driver transistor on the sulfone-based OGI layer (see Figure S14).…”

“…Developing chemically robust OSCs is an practical method to enhance their compatibility with the standard photolithography protocol. , Recent reports describe photo-cross-linkable polymer semiconductors as negative semiconducting photoresists that can be immobilized in organic solutions after exposure. − As such, these photo-cross-linkable OSCs can be patterned using direct photolithography (see Figure S1a) with precision and simplicity. Nevertheless, the photo-cross-linkable polymer semiconductors are semicrystals, and photo-cross-linking further disrupts the ordered arrangement. , In this regard, substantial low-ordered regions, defects, and s grain boundaries in the film are thermodynamically metastable, making them more susceptible to solution processing than long-range ordered aggregates. , This inherent metastability is difficult to eliminate via molecular engineering and aggregation modulation .…”

Cross-linking strategies for efficient and highly stable perovskite solar cells

“…Promisingly, cross-linking materials, which have been widely used in traditional engineering plastics and emerging optoelectronic devices, can be conceived as a superior candidate to replace organic small molecules or polymers in pursuit of high-performance PSCs along with long-term stability and operational stability. [35][36][37][38][39] Cross-linking materials can be referred to a type of small molecules, which are polymerized under certain conditions to form three-dimensional (3D) insoluble network structure with superior thermal/light stability, good solvent resistance, and synthetic repeatability (Fig. 2).…”

Direct laser patterning of organic semiconductors for high performance OFET-based gas sensors

“…[6][7][8] To obtain high-performance organic circuitry, a key point is the realization of patterned and orderly aligned OSC arrays which ensures minimal leakage current, low cross-talk between devices and a high integration level. 4,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] By taking advantage of either the modulation of the wettability of the substrate or meniscusguided growth technique, a plethora of approaches, including dip-coating, 20 solution-shearing, 16,17 mold stamping, 12,13 and capillary-confinement crystallization, 18,19 have been reported to create polymeric/molecular OSC patterns with specific orientation, superior uniformity and extreme high device density. In addition to these template-assisted bottom-up approaches, microlithography also has emerged as a powerful tool in patterning organic semiconductors.…”