In Tandem Contact‐Transfer Printing for High‐Performance Transient Electronics

Abstract

High‐performance flexible electronics developed with resource efficient printing route will transform the way future electronics is manufactured and used to advance applications such as healthcare, Internet of Things, wearables, consumer electronics, etc. Herein, an innovative approach is presented that involves, for the first time, the in‐tandem use of contact and transfer printing methods to realize high‐quality electronic layers at selected locations on rigid (Si/SiO2), flexible (polyimide), and biodegradable (magnesium (Mg) foils). Superior grade quality of printed electronic layers is demonstrated by realizing transistors and printed UV photodetectors (PDs) employing high‐resolution electrohydrodynamic printing. The all‐printed PDs show extremely high performance for UV detection, with extraordinary high responsivity (>107 A W−1) and specific detectivity (≈1017 Jones) values at low UV intensity of 0.1 µW cm−2. Finally, the fabricated PDs on Mg foil are dissolved in deionized water at room temperature. Thus, in‐tandem contact and transfer printing has potential for ecofriendly development of transient electronics. Further, the approach allows printing of wide range of nanomaterials and heterostructures or complex superlattice structures, which can open exciting new possibilities for high‐performance electronics.

Skin‐Inspired Thermoreceptors‐Based Electronic Skin for Biomimicking Thermal Pain Reflexes

“…Additive printing via nozzle‐based methods such as inkjet, and extrusion (direct‐ink writing) have gained attention for the development of e‐skin. [ 15 ] These printing methods allow patterning of conductive materials such as liquid metals, [ 15b,c ] and colloidal metal nanoparticles [ 15a ] in a resource‐efficient manner. Whilst impressive progress has been made in compliant electrical systems with interconnects based on these materials offering superior electrical and mechanical properties, it is challenging to define high resolution electrodes from them using printing technologies over 1D materials due to issues such as: 1) ink spreading, 2) difficulties in getting precise control over the geometry of liquid metal patterns, and 3) poor printing resolutions.…”

Patterned Assembly of Inorganic Semiconducting Nanowires Using Lithography-Free Technique

“…Nevertheless, given the necessity to remove NWs from significantly larger substrate area, the presented results show that the patterned NW layer is obtained with a good contrast and a fair density of NWs in the positive areas. Whilst further improvement in removal yield and uniformity is possible, the obtained NW density in the active device channel is already higher than the previously reported NW patterning methods [24]. It may be noted that more than one selective removal runs were carried out using the same stamp.…”

“…Among various NW assembly/integration approaches, contact printing offers unique advantages such as: (i) highly directional alignment of NWs in a single-step process, (ii) costeffectiveness, (iii) negligible contamination, as it is a dry printing method, (iv) possibility to print different types of NWs including heterostructures with unique electronic/optical properties, and (v) possibility for selective printing of NWs. Briefly, the process involves bringing a donor substrate having vertically grown NWs in contact with a receiver substrate and a sliding them at an optimum speed and pressure [24]. The shear forces generated during the sliding process result in breaking the NWs from the fixed end and in their transfer onto the receiver substrate.…”

Printed n- and p-Channel Transistors using Silicon Nanoribbons Enduring Electrical, Thermal, and Mechanical Stress

“… 13 , 17 − 22 Efficient use of various materials also makes printing attractive in terms of lower electronic waste (e-waste) and better environment friendliness. 11 − 13 , 23 − 25 As a result, the printing technologies have been explored for devices such as artificial thermoreceptors, 26 touch sensors, 27 synaptic transistors, 28 energy harvesters, 29 − 31 radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, 32 and interconnects, 33 etc. needed in conformable and interactive electronic systems.…”

“…). − Yet, as revolutionary as this miniaturization trend has been, in its current form, the production processes it follows are inherently and unavoidably wasteful. For instance, IC fabrications rely almost entirely on subtractive manufacturing methods (sequence of photolithographic and chemical processing steps), leading to large material wastages, and high levels of anions and organic pollutants. − Such methods are not suitable for large area flexible electronics that can bend, flex, and twist. Even if advances with silicon-based technologies continue to be made, there is need for alternative technology offering resource-efficient and environment friendly routes for manufacturing electronics without losing its transformative power.…”