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Title: Foundry-compatible high-resolution patterning of vertically phase-separated semiconducting films for ultraflexible organic electronics

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [2];  [6];  [7];  [8]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [9]
  1. Southeast Univ., Nanjing (China); Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); Univ. of Tokyo (Japan)
  2. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
  3. Univ. of Tokyo (Japan)
  4. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); Soochow University, Suzhou (China)
  5. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); North University of China (China)
  6. Flexterra Inc., Skokie, IL (United States)
  7. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); Sichuan Univ., Chengdu (China)
  8. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); Donghua University (China)
  9. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); Flexterra Inc., Skokie, IL (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Solution processability of polymer semiconductors becomes an unfavorable factor during the fabrication of pixelated films since the underlying layer is vulnerable to subsequent solvent exposure. A foundry-compatible patterning process must meet requirements including high-throughput and high-resolution patternability, broad generality, ambient processability, environmentally benign solvents, and, minimal device performance degradation. However, known methodologies can only meet very few of these requirements. Here, a facile photolithographic approach is demonstrated for foundry-compatible high-resolution patterning of known p- and n-type semiconducting polymers. This process involves crosslinking a vertically phase-separated blend of the semiconducting polymer and a UV photocurable additive, and enables ambient processable photopatterning at resolutions as high as 0.5 μm in only three steps with environmentally benign solvents. The patterned semiconducting films can be integrated into thin-film transistors having excellent transport characteristics, low off-currents, and high thermal (up to 175 °C) and chemical (24 h immersion in chloroform) stability. Moreover, these patterned organic structures can also be integrated on 1.5 μm-thick parylene substrates to yield highly flexible (1 mm radius) and mechanically robust (5,000 bending cycles) thin-film transistors.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS); National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); National Science Foundation (NSF); Southeast University Research Startup Fund; US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1824667
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 12; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH

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