Macroscopic and high-throughput printing of aligned nanostructured polymer semiconductors for MHz large-area electronics

Abstract

High-mobility semiconducting polymers offer the opportunity to develop flexible and large-area electronics for several applications, including wearable, portable and distributed sensors, monitoring and actuating devices. An enabler of this technology is a scalable printing process achieving uniform electrical performances over large area. As opposed to the deposition of highly crystalline films, orientational alignment of polymer chains, albeit commonly achieved by non-scalable/slow bulk alignment schemes, is a more robust approach towards large-area electronics. By combining pre-aggregating solvents for formulating the semiconductor and by adopting a room temperature wired bar-coating technique, here we demonstrate the fast deposition of submonolayers and nanostructured films of a model electron-transporting polymer. Our approach enables directional self-assembling of polymer chains exhibiting large transport anisotropy and a mobility up to 6.4 cm2 V−1 s−1, allowing very simple device architectures to operate at 3.3 MHz. Thus, the proposed deposition strategy is exceptionally promising for mass manufacturing of high-performance polymer circuits.

Inkjet Printed Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotube Based Ambipolar and Unipolar Transistors for High‐Performance Complementary Logic Circuits

“…This allowed the fabrication of a complementary-like inverter displaying a clear inverting behavior, a gain of 18.6 and a noise margin up to 20. s-SWCNT inkjet printed transistors here demonstrated are very promising for high performance large-area and fl exible electronics, enabling improved computation complexity and high frequency switching speed, with an expected transition frequency [ 45 ] well above 10 MHz already for simple device architectures compatible with cost-effective, scalable manufacturing processes. [ 46 ] …”

High‐Mobility Naphthalene Diimide and Selenophene‐Vinylene‐Selenophene‐Based Conjugated Polymer: n‐Channel Organic Field‐Effect Transistors and Structure–Property Relationship

“…PNDI-SVS was synthesized by a Stille coupling reaction using Pd 2 (dba) 3 and P(o-Tol) 3 , as shown in Scheme 1. The polymer was extracted with chloroform, collected by precipitation in methanol, and purified by successive Soxhlet extractions using methanol, acetone, toluene, and chloroform to remove biproducts and oligomers.…”

“…[60][61][62] In this contribution, we fulfill the double aim of reporting the synthesis of a new and high-electron-mobility NDI-based copoly mer, incorporating a selenophene-vinyl-selenophene donor moiety, and of evidencing a clear deviation between channel and bulk film morphology. First, we report on the synthesis and full characterization in an OFET device configuration of the solution-processed polymer poly[(E)-2,7-bis(2-decyltetradecyl)-4-methyl-9-(5-(2-(5-methylselenophen-2-yl)vinyl)selenophen-2-yl)benzo[lmn] [3,8] phenanthroline-1,3,6,8(2H,7H)-tetraone] (PNDI-SVS, Scheme 1). OFET devices based on this new copolymer are characterized by high electron mobility, exceeding 2.4 cm 2 V −1 s −1 , with a promising ambient-air operational stability.…”

“…[1,2] For example, control of the alignment of the polymer backbones in a thin film can strongly enhance the charge carrier mobility. [53][54][55][56][57] In the case of the model n-type polymer PNDI2OD-T2, an electron mobility exceeding 6 cm 2 V −1 s −1 at high fields was achieved with a fast bar-coating process, starting from solutions with a high degree of preaggregation, leading to aligned fibrillar domains over large areas [3] as a result of flow induced alignment, achievable with an off-center spin-coating process as well. [58,59] Such results indicate the beneficial interplay of chemical structure and solid-state morphology in improving charge transport properties, a common aspect of solution-processed high-mobility polymers typically indicated as the structureproperty nexus.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Such progress coupled with the high compatibility of solution-processable organic semiconductors with plastic or metal foil substrates makes them ideal candidates for cost-effective, mechanically flexible electronic devices for various applications, such as printed radio frequency identification tags for item-level tagging, drivers for flexible displays, wearable electronics, distributed sensors, and integrated, nonvolatile memory devices. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] [21][22][23][24][25] Such remarkable p-channel mobilities, obtained in devices with fairly promising shelf-life and operational stabilities, have been demonstrated with conjugated polymers based on new building units, such as diketopyrrolopyrrole, [24,26,27] isoindigo, [28,29] and indacenodithiophene.…”