Recent Progress in Inkjet‐Printed Thin‐Film Transistors

Abstract

Drop‐on‐demand inkjet printing is one of the most attractive techniques from a manufacturing perspective due to the possibility of fabrication from a digital layout at ambient conditions, thus leading to great opportunities for the realization of low‐cost and flexible thin‐film devices. Over the past decades, a variety of inkjet‐printed applications including thin‐film transistors (TFTs), radio‐frequency identification devices, sensors, and displays have been explored. In particular, many research groups have made great efforts to realize high‐performance TFTs, for application as potential driving components of ubiquitous wearable electronics. Although there are still challenges to enable the commercialization of printed TFTs beyond laboratory‐scale applications, the field of printed TFTs still attracts significant attention, with remarkable developments in soluble materials and printing methodology. Here, recent progress in printing‐based TFTs is presented from materials to applications. Significant efforts to improve the electrical performance and device‐yield of printed TFTs to match those of counterparts fabricated using conventional deposition or photolithography methods are highlighted. Moreover, emerging low‐dimension printable semiconductors, including carbon nanotubes and transition metal dichalcogenides as well as mature semiconductors, and new‐concept printed switching devices, are also discussed.

Ink‐Based Additive Nanomanufacturing of Functional Materials for Human‐Integrated Smart Wearables

“…[129,130] These ink-based AM techniques have unique applications due to their different mechanisms and processing requirements. For example, inkjet printing is more suitable for creating thin-film patterns [104,[131][132][133] and DIW can enable the printing of microscale stereostructures. [134][135][136] Other ink-based manufacturing techniques, such as screen printing which is highly compatible with roll-to-roll (R2R) techniques for mass production, [137][138][139][140] have also been used to fabricate flexible electronics.…”

“…[107,173,174] Printing resolution is critical for practical applications, especially for printed electronics, where a high printing resolution could minimize the device footprint for enhanced performance and integration complexity. [74,133,150] The printing resolution of an inkjet printing process is primarily limited by how a droplet spreads on a substrate during the solvent evaporation and how such spreading changes with the overlap of adjacent drops to form continuous features. [74,106,133,157] Printing resolution with feature dimensions at %70 μm could be achieved using10 pL drops of ink.…”

“…[74,133,150] The printing resolution of an inkjet printing process is primarily limited by how a droplet spreads on a substrate during the solvent evaporation and how such spreading changes with the overlap of adjacent drops to form continuous features. [74,106,133,157] Printing resolution with feature dimensions at %70 μm could be achieved using10 pL drops of ink. [175] Many efforts have been devoted to drastically improve the printing resolution of the inkjet process during the past few years.…”

“…Semiconductors are essential for constructing electronic devices [111,133,169,226,434] and optoelectronic devices. [435][436][437] Commonly used semiconductors include inorganic [63,[438][439][440][441] and organic materials.…”

Soft eSkin: distributed touch sensing with harmonized energy and computing

“…The efficient utilization of the 1T-1M structures for eSkin requires high performance and uniform response of flexible transistors and memory devices over large areas. In this regard, the large area device fabrication by printing approach (including conductive, semiconductor) is being explored [61,[120][121][122][123][124][125].…”