Microstructured Blade for Solution Shearing Produces Thin-Film Transistors

Inorganic Polymer Micropillar‐Based Solution Shearing of Organic Semiconductor Thin Films

Article: Thin-Film Transistors Made Easy with AHPCS Shearing Blade
Advances in printed flexible electronics will impact robotics, biomedical devices and many more industries. Research on methods and materials to fabricate these devices is vital. In their paper in Advanced Materials professor Steve Park and colleagues from:

• Korea advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
• Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)
• Kwangwoon University

The New AHPCS Shearing Blade Produces Thin-Film Transistors

The team demonstrated a novel microstructured blade for solution shearing to produce thin-film transistors. A flexible, durable and solvent-resistance inorganic polymer. (Allylhybridpolycarbosilane or AHPCS) was used to fabricate the microstructured AHPCS shearing blade.

The wet-ability of the AHPCS micropillar surface is tunable. By controlling the shearing rate and the substrate temperature, crystal growth can occur along the moving blade.

Curvature of the meniscus is greatest at the center of the pillars and between the pillars, which is suggested to increase the likelihood of nucleation in those regions. Field-effect transistors with microstructure dimensions from 10 to 60 micrometers were fabricated using this shearing-blade technique.

Experiments show that the field effect-mobility increases with increasing microstructure size. The AHPCS shearing blade was fabricated with inherent curvature, which could be used to create thin films directly onto non–planar surfaces, increasing the utility of this technique. To find out more about using AHPCS micro-structured blades for solution shearing, please visit the Advanced Materials homepage

A flexible, durable, and solvent‐resistant inorganic polymer that can easily be microstructured via molding is utilized as a solution shearing blade for the generation of high‐quality large‐area organic semiconductor thin films or thin-film transistors. By manipulating the shape and size of the blade’s microstructure, crystal size is controlled, through which the mobility of the thin film is enhanced.

This is reported by Jin-Oh Kim, Jeong-Chan Lee, Min-Ji Kim, Hyunwoo Noh, Hye-In Yeom, Jong Beom Ko, Tae Hoon Lee, Sang-Hee Ko Park, Dong-Pyo Kim, and Steve Park in the article https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201800647