Solution-processed silicon films and transistors

Fabrication of high-quality amorphous silicon film from cyclopentasilane by vapor deposition between two parallel substrates

Cyclopentasilane converts into amorphous silicon film between two parallel substrates under atmospheric pressure by thermal decomposition at 350–400 °C, which combines the advantages of high throughput with cost reduction and high quality film formation.

A solution based route to GaAs thin films from As(NMe2)3 and GaMe3 for solar cells

The novel deposition of GaAs thin films on glass substrates from a solution based route involving the aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) of As(NMe₂)₃ and GaMe₃ dissolved in toluene is reported.

All-printed diode operating at 1.6 GHz

Printed electronics are considered for wireless electronic tags and sensors within the future Internet-of-things (IoT) concept. As a consequence of the low charge carrier mobility of present printable organic and inorganic semiconductors, the operational frequency of printed rectifiers is not high enough to enable direct communication and powering between mobile phones and printed e-tags. Here, we report an all-printed diode operating up to 1.6 GHz. The device, based on two stacked layers of Si and NbSi2 particles, is manufactured on a flexible substrate at low temperature and in ambient atmosphere. The high charge carrier mobility of the Si microparticles allows device operation to occur in the charge injection-limited regime. The asymmetry of the oxide layers in the resulting device stack leads to rectification of tunneling current. Printed diodes were combined with antennas and electrochromic displays to form an all-printed e-tag. The harvested signal from a Global System for Mobile Communications mobile phone was used to update the display. Our findings demonstrate a new communication pathway for printed electronics within IoT applications.

Interrelations between technology for obtaining quantum dots and optoelectronic properties of semiconductors [Invited]

The mechanism and kinetics of growth of nanocrystals considered as quantum dots (those used as electronic blocks in optoelectronic devices) is investigated for the case when the growth and solving of them is controlled in parallel by diffusion (surface of volume) and by the rate of chemical reaction at surface of the nanocrystals (Wagner's mechanism of growth). It is shown that the total flow to and from the nanocrystal consists of two parts, viz. the diffusion and kinetic ones. Depending on the ratio x of the two parts of the total flow, the diffusion or Wagner's mechanism of growth predominates. For that, the size distribution function is determined for the specified x either by the curve corresponding to the generalized Chakraverty-Wagner distribution or from the generalized Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner distribution. Comparison of theoretically computed distributions with the experimentally obtained histograms is carried out.

The exothermic reaction route of a self-heatable conductive ink for rapid processable printed electronics

We report the exothermic reaction route and new capability of a self-heatable conductive ink (Ag2O and silver 2,2-dimethyloctanoate) in order to achieve both a low sintering temperature and electrical resistivity within a short sintering time for flexible printed electronics and display appliances. Unlike conventional conductive ink, which requires a costly external heating instrument for rapid sintering, self-heatable conductive ink by itself is capable of generating heat as high as 312 °C when its exothermic reaction is triggered at a temperature of 180 °C. This intensive exothermic reaction is found to result from the recursive reaction of the 2,2-dimethyloctanoate anion, which is thermally dissociated from silver 2,2-dimethyloctanoate, with silver oxide microparticles. Through this recursive reaction, a massive number of silver atoms are supplied from silver oxide microparticles, and the nucleation of silver atoms and the fusion of silver nanoparticles become the major source of heat. This exothermic reaction eventually realizes the electrical resistivity of self-heatable conductive ink as low as 27.5 μΩ cm within just 40 s by combining chemical annealing, which makes it suitable for the roll-to-roll printable electronics such as a flexible touch screen panel.

Inkjet Printed Organic Thin Film Transistors: Achievements and Challenges

Inkjet printing of organic thin film transistors is an enabling technology for many applications requiring low cost electronics such as RFID tags, sensors, e-paper, and displays. This review summarizes the achievements and remaining challendges in the field. An all inkjet printed organic thin film transistor is feasible, but manufacturability needs to be improved. Often, a hybrid process in which only some layers are inkjet printed is used. Development of devices requires optimization of (1) ink chemistry, (2) inkjet process, (3) substrate ink interaction, and (4) new device structures. Several conducting, dielectric and semiconducting materials have been used to formulate ink. It appears that metal nanoparticle based conducting ink and PEDOT:PSS are widely used materials to fabricate source, drain and gate electrodes. PVPh is the most popular dielectric material for inkjet printing. To print semiconducting layer, both polymers and oligomers/small molecules are used. Many high performance organic semiconductors are p-type, but few n-type organic semiconductors show excellent performance. In addition to improved materials, challenges inherent in the inkjet process also need solutions. These are registration, alignment of the source,and drain with gate, resolution, reducing off-state current, and roll-to-roll processing.

Two-dimensional nanoarchitectonics: organic and hybrid materials

Programmed molecular assemblies with molecular-level precision have always intrigued mankind in the quest to master the art of molecular engineering. In this regard, our review seeks to highlight the state of the art in supramolecular engineering. Herein we describe two-dimensional (2D) nanoarchitectonics of organic and organic-inorganic based hybrid materials. Molecular systems ranging from simpler hydrogen bonding driven bis-acylurea and cyclic dipeptide derivatives to complex peptoids, arylenes, cucurbiturils, biphenyls, organosilicons and organometallics, which involve a delicate interplay of multiple noncovalent interactions are discussed. These specifically chosen examples illustrate the molecular design principles and synthetic protocols to realize 2D nanosheets. The description also emphasizes the wide variety of functional properties and technological implications of these 2D nanomaterials besides an outlook for future progress.

Solution-based synthesis of crystalline silicon from liquid silane through laser and chemical annealing

We report a solution process for the synthesis of crystalline silicon from the liquid silane precursor cyclohexasilane (Si(6)H(12)). Polysilane films were crystallized through thermal and laser annealing, with plasma hydrogenation at atmospheric pressure generating further structural changes in the films. The evolution from amorphous to microcrystalline is characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Raman spectroscopy and impedance spectroscopy. A four-decade enhancement in the electrical conductivity is attributed to a disorder-order transition in a bonded Si network. Our results demonstrate a potentially attractive approach that employs a solution process coupled with ambient postprocessing to produce crystalline silicon thin films.

Inkjet-printed graphene electronics

We demonstrate inkjet printing as a viable method for large-area fabrication of graphene devices. We produce a graphene-based ink by liquid phase exfoliation of graphite in N-methylpyrrolidone. We use it to print thin-film transistors, with mobilities up to ∼95 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), as well as transparent and conductive patterns, with ∼80% transmittance and ∼30 kΩ/□ sheet resistance. This paves the way to all-printed, flexible, and transparent graphene devices on arbitrary substrates.

Paper electronics

Paper is ubiquitous in everyday life and a truly low-cost substrate. The use of paper substrates could be extended even further, if electronic applications would be applied next to or below the printed graphics. However, applying electronics on paper is challenging. The paper surface is not only very rough compared to plastics, but is also porous. While this is detrimental for most electronic devices manufactured directly onto paper substrates, there are also approaches that are compatible with the rough and absorptive paper surface. In this review, recent advances and possibilities of these approaches are evaluated and the limitations of paper electronics are discussed.

Low-temperature fabrication of high-performance metal oxide thin-film electronics via combustion processing

The development of large-area, low-cost electronics for flat-panel displays, sensor arrays, and flexible circuitry depends heavily on high-throughput fabrication processes and a choice of materials with appropriate performance characteristics. For different applications, high charge carrier mobility, high electrical conductivity, large dielectric constants, mechanical flexibility or optical transparency may be required. Although thin films of metal oxides could potentially meet all of these needs, at present they are deposited using slow and equipment-intensive techniques such as sputtering. Recently, solution processing schemes with high throughput have been developed, but these require high annealing temperatures (T(anneal)>400 °C), which are incompatible with flexible polymeric substrates. Here we report combustion processing as a new general route to solution growth of diverse electronic metal oxide films (In(2)O(3), a-Zn-Sn-O, a-In-Zn-O, ITO) at temperatures as low as 200 °C. We show that this method can be implemented to fabricate high-performance, optically transparent transistors on flexible plastic substrates.

Top-down fabrication of fully CMOS-compatible silicon nanowire arrays and their integration into CMOS Inverters on plastic

A route to the top-down fabrication of highly ordered and aligned silicon nanowire (SiNW) arrays with degenerately doped source/drain regions from a bulk Si wafer is presented. In this approach, freestanding n- and p-SiNWs with an inverted triangular cross section are obtained using conventional photolithography, crystal orientation dependent wet etching, size reduction oxidation, and ion implantation doping. Based on these n- and p-SiNWs transferred onto a plastic substrate, simple SiNW-based complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) inverters are constructed for the possible applications of these SiNW arrays in integrated circuits on plastic. The static voltage transfer characteristic of the SiNW-based CMOS inverter exhibits a voltage gain of ∼9 V/V and a transition of 0.32 V at an operating voltage of 1.5 V with a full output voltage swing between 0 V and V(DD), and its mechnical bendability indicates good fatigue properties for potential applications of flexible electronics. This novel top-down approach is fully compatible with the current state-of-the-art Si-based CMOS technologies and, therefore, offers greater flexibility in device design for both high-performance and low-power functionality.

Band-like transport, high electron mobility and high photoconductivity in all-inorganic nanocrystal arrays

Flexible, thin-film electronic and optoelectronic devices typically involve a trade-off between performance and fabrication cost. For example, solution-based deposition allows semiconductors to be patterned onto large-area substrates to make solar cells and displays, but the electron mobility in solution-deposited semiconductor layers is much lower than in semiconductors grown at high temperatures from the gas phase. Here, we report band-like electron transport in arrays of colloidal cadmium selenide nanocrystals capped with the molecular metal chalcogenide complex In(2)Se(4)(2-), and measure electron mobilities as high as 16 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), which is about an order of magnitude higher than in the best solution-processed organic and nanocrystal devices so far. We also use CdSe/CdS core-shell nanoparticles with In(2)Se(4)(2-) ligands to build photodetectors with normalized detectivity D* > 1 × 10(13) Jones (I Jones = 1 cm Hz(1/2) W(-1)), which is a record for II-VI nanocrystals. Our approach does not require high processing temperatures, and can be extended to different nanocrystals and inorganic surface ligands.

Inkjet-Printed Organic Field-Effect Transistor by Using Composite Semiconductor Material of Carbon Nanoparticles and Poly(3-Hexylthiophene)

Poly(3-hexylthiophene), P3HT, has been widely used in organic electronics as a semiconductor material. It suffers from the low carrier mobility characteristics. This limits P3HT to be employed in applications. Therefore, the blending semiconductor material, carbon nanoparticle (CNP), and P3HT, are developed and examined by inkjet-printing organic field-effect transistor technology in this work. The effective carrier mobility of fabricated OFETs can be enhanced by 8 folds with adding CNP and using O2plasma treatment. At the same time, the transconductance of fabricated OFETs is also raised by 5 folds. Based on the observations of SEM, XRD, and FTIR, these improvements are contributed to the local field induced by the formation of CNP/P3HT complexes. This observation presents an insight of the development in organic semiconductor materials. Moreover, this work also offers a low-cost and effective semiconductor material for inkjet-printing technology in the development of organic electronics.

Self-organized Ce(1-x)Gd(x)O(2-y) nanowire networks with very fast coarsening driven by attractive elastic interactions

Assembling arrays of ordered nanowires is a key objective for many of their potential applications. However, a lack of understanding and control of the nanowires' growth mechanisms limits their thorough development. In this work, an appealing new path towards self-organized epitaxial nanowire networks produced by high-throughput solution methods is reported. Two requisites are identified to generate the nanowires: a thermodynamic driving force for an unrestricted elongated equilibrium island shape, and a very fast effective coarsening rate. These requirements are met in anisotropically strained Ce(1-x)Gd(x)O(2-y) nanowires with the (011) orientation grown on the (001) surface of LaAlO(3) substrates. Nanowires with aspect ratios above ≈100 oriented along two mutually orthogonal axes are obtained leading to labyrinthine networks. A very fast effective nanowire growth rate (≈60 nm min(-1)) for ex-situ thermally annealed nanostructures derives from simultaneous kinetic processes occurring in a branched network. Ostwald ripening and anisotropic dynamic coalescence, both promoted by strain-driven attractive nanowire interaction, and rapid recrystallization, enabled by fast atomic diffusion associated with a high concentration of oxygen vacancies, contribute to such an effective growth rate. This bottom-up approach to self-organized nanowire growth has a wide potential for many materials and functionalities.

Germanium and silicon nanocrystal thin-film field-effect transistors from solution

Germanium and silicon have lagged behind more popular II-VI and IV-VI semiconductor materials in the emerging field of semiconductor nanocrystal thin film devices. We report germanium and silicon nanocrystal field-effect transistors fabricated by synthesizing nanocrystals in a plasma, transferring them into solution, and casting thin films. Germanium devices show n-type, ambipolar, or p-type behavior depending on annealing temperature with electron and hole mobilities as large as 0.02 and 0.006 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), respectively. Silicon devices exhibit n-type behavior without any postdeposition treatment, but are plagued by poor film morphology.

Inkjet printing-process and its applications

In this Progress Report we provide an update on recent developments in inkjet printing technology and its applications, which include organic thin-film transistors, light-emitting diodes, solar cells, conductive structures, memory devices, sensors, and biological/pharmaceutical tasks. Various classes of materials and device types are in turn examined and an opinion is offered about the nature of the progress that has been achieved.