Polymers Applications in Electronics

1. Part 2 Polymers Applications in Electronics

2. Applications and Areas of Research • Fabrication of organic thin film transistors • Non-volatile memory devices based on organic transistors • Development of novel conjugated polymers for photovoltaic device applications • Fabrication of organic photovoltaic cells • Fabrication of organic light-emitting devices (OLED) • Ferroelectric polymers for thin film devices • Gene Sensors • Printed Electronics • Conducting Polymer Actuators and Micropumps • Responsive Membranes/Hybrid Plastics • focused upon polymer membranes that incorporated electronically conducting polymers and piezoelectric polymers M. Rosado EECE 487 Spring 2009

3. M. Rosado EECE 487 Spring 2009

4. Scientists at Philips Research have developed a plastic RFID chip that is as thin as paper and no larger than a postage stamp http://www.research.philips.com/newscenter/pictures/ldm-polelec.html M. Rosado EECE 487 Spring 2009

5. Printed Electronic Methods • Flexoprinting: a high pressure method that is especially well applicable to print on plastic substrates • Offset printing: a flat printing technique that makes a high resolution possible • Gravure printing: a low pressure printing method that makes high volumes and the use of organic dissolvent possible • Rotary screen printing: a method that allows to print in thick layers • Coating methods: diverse methods to apply homogeneous and thin layers M. Rosado EECE 487 Spring 2009

6. Process of Printed Electronics • Clean room process - During preparation,contamination might be introduced in the form of salts, polysiloxanes and dust particles • spin coating, photo lithography, evaporation, wet etching and others are used for the basic development of polymer electronics • Lab Printing Process – Lab type "desktop" printing machines for pad printing, doctor blading and gravure printing as well as screen printing and others are used to develop the basic printing processing know-how for printed electronics • Production Process - Production scale printing process such as flexography printing, offset printing, gravure printing, screen printing and others are used to produce printed electronic products for low cost high volume applications M. Rosado EECE 487 Spring 2009

7. Companies have already commercialized the polymer electronic technology PolyIC offers two product lines: PolyID® for printed RFID (radio frequency identification) tags for contactless identification of products PolyLogo® for printed Smart objects (combined systems of different polymer electronics components) Printed electronics makes low-cost RFID tags possible that can be used for mass applications. Furthermore, this new technology is also used in displays and complex systems, called smart objects. Printable Electronics M. Rosado EECE 487 Spring 2009

8. Disadvantages Due to their intrinsic physical properties (i.e. limited mobility of charge carriers), the performance of polymer electronic products lacks the speed of its silicon counterpart Research is still on going to increase performance for more complex functionality To be able to improve performance one should be able to distinguish between problems introduced during preparation, intrinsic material properties, and device characteristics Advantages vs. Disadvantages Polymer Electronics • Advantages • Manufacture w/ relative simple and inexpensive equipment at low cost • Light weighted and flexible, very durable under stress and flex • Can be easily applied over a large surface area • Freedom of choice of their chemical composition • Adaptable in various ways because of printing methods that can be adjusted to current requirements quickly (printed electronics) M. Rosado EECE 487 Spring 2009

9. Conclusion • Research in polymer electronics began in 1970s • Conductive polymer doped with iodine • Polymer electronics have the same building blocks as conventional electronics – transistors (OFETs), diodes, capacitors, inverters, and polymer ring oscillators • Applications include organic photovoltaic cells, organic light emitting devices (OLED), polymer transistors, printed electronics and many more • Polymer electronics are light, flexible, and less expensive to produce on a mass quantity scale than conventional electronics • Polymer electronics are not a competing product but are considered to be more complementary to its silicon counterpart M. Rosado EECE 487 Spring 2009

10. Works Cited • “Polymer Electronics.” http://www.polyid.de/en/polymer-electronics.php • Organic/Polymer Electronics http://www.research.philips.com/newscenter/pictures/ldm-polelec.html • “Research Areas.” Nanyang Technical University http://www.mse.ntu.edu.sg/Research/?op=organicpe.html • “Organic Electronics.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_electronics • “Polymer Electronics Research Centre.” University of Auckland. http://www.perc.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/science/about/departments/chemistry/about/research/perc/research/actuators.cfm • Bock, Karlheinz. “Polymer Electronics Systems – Polytronics.” IEEE Xplore. Vol. 93, No. 8 August 2005. • Knobloch, Alexander and et al. “Printed Polymer Transistors.” IEEE Xplore website. IEEE Session 4: Polymer Electronic Devices. 2001. • “PolyIC Newsletter.” IC4U – Issue 01.2009. March 31,2009. Bettina Bergbauer, Public Relations. • T. Sekitani, Y. Noguchi, U. Zschieschang, H. Klauk, T. Someya.“Organic transistors manufactured using inkjet technology with sub femtoliter accuracy.”Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 105, no. 13, pp. 4976-4980, April 2008. M. Rosado EECE 487 Spring 2009