Polymers Applications in Electronics

Part 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 2

M. Rosado EECE 487 Spring 2009 3

Scientists at Philips Research have developed a plastic RFID chip that is as thin as paper and no larger than a postage stamp

M. Rosado EECE 487 Spring 2009 4

http://www.research.philips.com/newscenter/pictures/ldm-polelec.html

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 5

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 6

Printable Electronics

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.

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 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

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 9

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 10