The meniscus-guided deposition of semiconducting polymers

Abstract

The electronic devices that play a vital role in our daily life are primarily based on silicon and are thus rigid, opaque, and relatively heavy. However, new electronics relying on polymer semiconductors are opening up new application spaces like stretchable and self-healing sensors and devices, and these can facilitate the integration of such devices into our homes, our clothing, and even our bodies. While there has been tremendous interest in such technologies, the widespread adoption of these organic electronics requires low-cost manufacturing techniques. Fortunately, the realization of organic electronics can take inspiration from a technology developed since the beginning of the Common Era: printing. This review addresses the critical issues and considerations in the printing methods for organic electronics, outlines the fundamental fluid mechanics, polymer physics, and deposition parameters involved in the fabrication process, and provides future research directions for the next generation of printed polymer electronics.

Printing 2D Conjugated Polymer Monolayers and Their Distinct Electronic Properties

“…In this method, microliters of semiconductor ink solution is sandwiched between a coating blade and temperature‐controlled stage separated by tens to hundreds of microns, giving rise to a meniscus in the gap. Depending on the coating speed, either the blade or the viscous force translates and guides the meniscus across the substrate, leading to an evaporative assembly of polymers into thin films 11. The film thickness, morphology and molecular packing of the film can be tuned by changing process parameters such as coating speed, substrate temperature, solution concentration, and substrate chemistry 12…”

“…Depending on the coating speed, either the blade or the viscous force translates and guides the meniscus across the substrate, leading to an evaporative assembly of polymers into thin films. [11] The film thickness, morphology and molecular packing of the film can be tuned by changing process parameters such as coating speed, substrate temperature, solution concentration, and substrate chemistry. [12] We chose to adopt dynamic templates during MGC to enhance 2D crystallization of polymer chains.…”

Precise Patterning of Organic Semiconductor Crystals for Integrated Device Applications

“…Both the photolithography technique and spin‐coating process have the advantage of large‐scale fabrication capability, which enabled the wafer‐scale fabrication of OSCC patterns possible. However, the spin‐coating process is wasteful of materials and is a batch process with limited throughput . Moreover, the spin‐coating has uneven shear stress distribution, especially in the large‐scale substrate, and may lead to very size variation of OSCCs from center to the edge of the substrate.…”

Challenge and Solution of Characterizing Glass Transition Temperature for Conjugated Polymers by Differential Scanning Calorimetry

“…With unique tunable electronic and optical properties, conjugated polymers (CPs), which are lightweight, flexible and deformable, have drawn significant interest . Most of research studies are focused on improving the charge mobility, optical band gap, and processability by engineering chemical structures of CPs .…”

“…INTRODUCTION With unique tunable electronic and optical properties, conjugated polymers (CPs), which are lightweight, flexible and deformable, have drawn significant interest. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Most of research studies are focused on improving the charge mobility, optical band gap, and processability by engineering chemical structures of CPs. [7][8][9] However, there is a lack of understanding of their thermo-properties, such as glass transition temperature (T g ) for CPs, especially for donor-acceptor polymers (D-A CPs) that possess record breaking device performance.…”