Xuying Liu

Spontaneous Patterning of High‐Resolution Electronics via Parallel Vacuum Ultraviolet

A spontaneous patterning technique via parallel vacuum ultraviolet is developed for fabricating large-scale, complex electronic circuits with 1 μm resolution. The prepared organic thin-film transistors exhibit a low contact resistance of 1.5 kΩ cm, and high mobilities of 0.3 and 1.5 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) in the devices with channel lengths of 1 and 5 μm, respectively.

A unified understanding of charge transport in organic semiconductors: the importance of attenuated delocalization for the carriers

The variety of charge transport theories for organic semiconductors (OSCs) raises the question of which models should be selected for each case, and there is a lack of generalized understanding regarding various OSCs over the full range of crystallinity from single crystal to amorphous. Here, we report that the generalized Einstein relation (GER) can unify various theoretical models and predict charge transport in OSCs with various crystallinities, by altering the variance of the density of states and the delocalization degree in a Gaussian-distributed density of states. The GER also provides a good fitting to much of the experimental data of temperature- and gate-voltage-dependent mobility for different OSCs in transistors. Consequently, disorders of charge transport in various OSCs can be directly compared in the same map, which reveals how energetic disorder and the delocalization degree determine charge transport in organic devices.

Universal diffusion-limited injection and the hook effect in organic thin-film transistors

The general form of interfacial contact resistance was derived for organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) covering various injection mechanisms. Devices with a broad range of materials for contacts, semiconductors, and dielectrics were investigated and the charge injections in staggered OTFTs was found to universally follow the proposed form in the diffusion-limited case, which is signified by the mobility-dependent injection at the metal-semiconductor interfaces. Hence, real ohmic contact can hardly ever be achieved in OTFTs with low carrier concentrations and mobility, and the injection mechanisms include thermionic emission, diffusion, and surface recombination. The non-ohmic injection in OTFTs is manifested by the generally observed hook shape of the output conductance as a function of the drain field. The combined theoretical and experimental results show that interfacial contact resistance generally decreases with carrier mobility, and the injection current is probably determined by the surface recombination rate, which can be promoted by bulk-doping, contact modifications with charge injection layers and dopant layers, and dielectric engineering with high-k dielectric materials.

Self-assembling diacetylene molecules on atomically flat insulators

Single crystal sapphire and diamond surfaces are used as planar, atomically flat insulating surfaces, for the deposition of the diacetylene compound 10,12-nonacosadiynoic acid. The surface assembly is compared with results on hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) and MoS2 surfaces. A perfectly flat-lying monolayer of 10,12-nonacosadiynoic acid self-assembles on h-BN like on HOPG and MoS2. On sapphire and oxidized diamond surfaces, we observed assemblies of standing-up molecular layers. Surface assembly is driven by surface electrostatic dipoles. Surface polarity is partially controlled using a hydrogenated diamond surface or totally screened by the deposition of a graphene layer on the sapphire surface. This results in a perfectly flat and organized SAM on graphene, which is ready for on-surface polymerization of long and isolated molecular wires under ambient conditions.

Generating one-dimensional micro- or nano-structures with in-plane alignment by vapor-driven wetting kinetics

The wetting of a droplet on a particular solid surface of a thin liquid film followed by solvent drying is a crucial process for nanostructure formation. However, this thin liquid film was commonly observed to rupture due to the instability of the given surface. Herein, we developed a technique to control the dynamical kinetics of a solution droplet by the co-solvent vapor, which yielded a reversible spreading/dewetting process between the spherical droplet and the stable thin liquid layer on surfaces that are usually difficult to wet. Our theoretical model indicates that the wetting process is governed by the sorption of co-solvent vapor within the droplet, which alters the surface free energy, lowers the contact angle, reduces the liquid film thickness, and stabilizes the drying process. The obtained thin liquid films allow the in-plane alignment to generate one-dimensional nano- or micro-structures in the deposited materials, such as nanowires and organic crystals. In particular, in-plane aligned organic single crystals unveiled high field-effect mobility, up to 9.1 cm2 V−1 s−1, in thin-film transistors.

Ultra-high-resolution printing of flexible organic thin-film transistors

ABSTRACT Fully printed electronics on plastic have attracted considerable interest owing to their high compatibility and ease of integration. Here, an ultra-high-resolution printing technique based on parallel vacuum ultraviolet patterning that can produce high-contrast wettability regions on flexible substrates was developed. This technique was used to selectively deposit a functional ink with a 1 µm feature size, thereby allowing the large-scale fabrication of organic thin-film transistors with channels as short as 1 µm under an ambient atmosphere. Moreover, in short-channel devices, hole injection barriers can be tuned by printing the optimum gate overlaps associated with selectively doping semiconductor/electrode interfaces, resulting in a marked reduction in contact resistance from 20 to 1.5 kΩ cm, and an elevation of the charge carrier mobility to a record high of 0.3 cm2 V−1 s−1 in a 1-µm-channel device. The results indicate that the developed technique is promising for the fabrication of large-area, high-resolution, low-cost electronics.

High-Resolution Electronics: Spontaneous Patterning of High-Resolution Electronics via Parallel Vacuum Ultraviolet (Adv. Mater. 31/2016).

On page 6568, T. Minari and co-workers describe spontaneous patterning based on the parallel vacuum ultraviolet (PVUV) technique, enabling the homogeneous integration of complex, high-resolution electronic circuits, even on large-scale, flexible, transparent substrates. Irradiation of PVUV to the hydrophobic polymer surface precisely renders the selected surface into highly wettable regions with sharply defined boundaries, which spontaneously guides a metal nanoparticle ink into a series of circuit lines and gaps with the widths down to a resolution of 1 μm.

Solution-processed high-LUMO-level polymers in n-type organic field-effect transistors: a comparative study as a semiconducting layer, dielectric layer, or charge injection layer

In solution-processed organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), the polymers with high level of lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMOs, > −3.5 eV) are especially susceptible to electron-trapping that causes low electron mobility and strong instability in successive operation. However, the role of high-LUMO-level polymers could be different depending on their locations relative to the semiconductor/insulator interface, or could even possibly benefit the device in some cases. We constructed unconventional polymer heterojunction n-type OFETs to control the location of the same polymer with a high LUMO level, to be in, under, or above the accumulation channel. We found that although the devices with the polymer in the channel suffer from dramatic instability, the same polymer causes much less instability when it acts as a dielectric modification layer or charge injection layer. Especially, it may even improve the device performance in the latter case. This result helps to improve our understanding of the electron-trapping and explore the value of these polymers in OFETs.

Printable electronic circuits based on metal nanoparticles and organic semiconductors

We propose a large-scale fabrication method of electronic devices based on solution-processed coating and printing. This method relies on bottom-up printing processes using soluble metal nanoparticles and organic semiconductors, resulting in thin-film electronic devices to be printed at room temperature without application of heat. We successfully fabricated high-performance organic thin-film transistors on plastic and paper substrates. In addition, the printing technique with 1-micron line width and space was also achieved. Our fabrication method is very promising for low-cost fabrication of high-resolution flexible electronics.

Organic thin-film transistors with over 10 cm2/Vs mobility through low-temperature solution coating

ABSTRACT Recent studies on organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) have reported high mobility values, but many of them showed non-ideal current–voltage characteristics that could lead to the overestimation of the mobility values. In this study, the non-ideal transistor behavior was briefly investigated by considering the effect of charge injection, and a method of overcoming the effect was developed. Correspondingly, various charge injection layers were developed, and their effects on the modification of metal contacts, including work function tuning and interfacial doping, were studied. The materials that had been coated formed a good metal-semiconductor interface through fine manipulation in the wetting and dewetting of the selected liquid. With such electrodes, the OTFTs were fabricated at room temperature and exhibited almost ideal transistor behavior in terms of the current–voltage characteristics, featuring high (over 10 cm2/Vs) field-effect mobility.