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Fully Additive Low-Cost Printed Electronics With Very Low Process Variations | IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore

Fully Additive Low-Cost Printed Electronics With Very Low Process Variations

Publisher: IEEE

Abstract:

Low-cost printed electronics (PE) on flexible substrates necessitates that its printing process embodies only additive steps (vis-à-vis subtractive steps), and processing...View more

Abstract:

Low-cost printed electronics (PE) on flexible substrates necessitates that its printing process embodies only additive steps (vis-à-vis subtractive steps), and processing at low temperature (e.g., <;120 °C) and in an air-only environment. For the manufacturability of PE circuits and systems, it is imperative that the printing process features low process variations, where the primary parameter is carrier mobility μ; and in some cases, the primary parameter is threshold voltage V th . We present a novel screen-printing low-cost fully additive all-air-processed low-temperature PE printing process featuring very low process variations. In particular, the process variations are ±4.9% μ and ±0.43 V V th . To the best of our knowledge, this is the smallest μ variations amongst all reported fully additive printing processes, and comparable to the best of subtractive processes. These very low variations are achieved by blade coating the semiconductor layer comprising a polymer-small molecular blend in a dual-solvent system, yielding a precise control of the semiconductor film formation. Further by means of careful layout, the matching between our two printed organic thin-film transistors is markedly improved from 7.2% (arising from ±4.9% μ and ±0.43 V V th variations) to 2.1%-to date, the best reported matching.
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices ( Volume: 63, Issue: 2, February 2016)
Page(s): 793 - 799
Date of Publication: 29 December 2015

ISSN Information:

Publisher: IEEE

I. Introduction

The sanguine projection of the gargantuan growth of printed electronics (PE) from U.S. 15 billion today to U.S. 190 billion [1] within a decade to a large extent assumes that intelligent (embodying analog, mixed-signal, and digital signal processing functionalities) PE circuits and systems can be realized. This also largely assumes that the printing can be realized on low-cost flexible substrates [e.g., polyethylene terephthalate (PET)], and that the printing is low-cost, on-demand, and scalable (large format). The practical realization of these PE circuits and systems, as in traditional silicon electronics, necessitates that the variations (and the associated mismatches) of the active elements are small. The primary parameter of the variations of organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) is the carrier mobility , and in some cases, the threshold voltage .

References

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