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Inkjet-printing-based soft-etching technique for high-speed polymer ambipolar integrated circuits
Dongyoon Khim1, Kang-Jun Baeg, Minji Kang
1Department of Energy and Materials Engineering, Dongguk University , 26 Pil-dong, 3 ga, Jung-gu, Seoul 100-715, Republic of Korea.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
|November 14, 2013
Summary
A novel soft-etching process using inkjet printing enhances flexible organic electronics. This technique improves performance in complementary integrated circuits by enabling tailored dielectric layers for transistors, boosting oscillation frequencies.
Area of Science:
- Organic electronics
- Materials science
- Semiconductor device fabrication
Background:
- Conjugated polymer semiconductors are key for printed and flexible electronics.
- Optimizing dielectric layers is crucial for high-performance organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) in complementary integrated circuits.
- Current methods may limit the choice of dielectric materials for specific transistor types (p-channel and n-channel).
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and demonstrate a soft-etching process via inkjet printing for fabricating high-performance flexible organic electronic circuits.
- To enable the use of distinct, desirable polymer dielectric layers for p-channel and n-channel OFETs within complementary integrated circuits.
- To enhance the performance of organic electronic devices by optimizing gate dielectric integration.
Main Methods:
- A soft-etching process involving selective etching of a polymer gate dielectric and subsequent deposition of a new dielectric layer.
- Inkjet printing of an orthogonal solvent (n-butyl acetate) to selectively remove polystyrene (PS) dielectric.
- Fabrication of ambipolar complementary inverters and ring oscillators (ROs) using P(NDI2OD-T2) as the active semiconductor layer.
Main Results:
- Successful implementation of the soft-etching process for selective dielectric removal and layer deposition.
- Fabrication of high-performance ambipolar complementary circuits using different dielectric materials for p-channel (P(VDF-TrFE)) and n-channel (PS) transistors.
- Achieved a significantly higher oscillation frequency (∼16.7 kHz) in five-stage ring oscillators compared to devices with a single dielectric layer (∼3 kHz).
Conclusions:
- The soft-etching process is a viable inkjet-printing technique for creating advanced flexible organic electronics.
- This method allows for the precise engineering of dielectric interfaces, leading to improved performance in complementary organic field-effect transistors.
- The demonstrated enhancement in ring oscillator frequency highlights the potential of soft-etching for next-generation printed organic circuits.
