Thursday, 5 October 2006 - 1:45 PM
North Riverside (Binghamton Regency Hotel and Conference Center)
103

Direct writing of organic devices using continuous liquid dispensing (MicroPen) and metallic particles

Bruce E. Kahn1, Karl Hirschman2, William J. Grande3, Gary A. Fino3, Gregg Berube4, Eric A. Groat4, and Alan Rae4. (1) Printed Electronics Consulting, Rochester, NY, (2) Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, (3) Ohmcraft, Inc., Honeoye Falls, NY, (4) NanoDynamics, Inc., Buffalo, NY

The development of a patterning technique that is capable of high resolution in three dimensions with minimal material requirements is extremely important for printed electronics materials research. To this end, we have been investigating the use of continuous liquid dispensing to pattern organic electronic devices. Continuous liquid dispensing offers a number of advantages over the more common droplet (discontinuous) dispensing techniques, such as ink-jet printing. The MicroPen is a direct writing system that deposits materials with high spatial precision through a fine conical capillary tip. The capillary tip rides on the bead of material being dispensed but has substantial vertical travel and is highly tolerant of substrate topology. Almost any liquid can be dispensed and patterned using this device with minimal constraints on fluid properties. In some ways, continuous liquid dispensing can be considered complementary to ink-jet printing. For example, continuous liquid dispensing is particularly well suited for the deposition of viscous materials, which can not be dispensed using conventional ink-jet technology. We have used this technique to pattern a variety of electrically functional materials, including conductive inks, organic conductors and semiconductors, and nanoparticles, and fabricated working organic field-effect transistors (OFET's). Continuous liquid dispensing can be used to pattern features having extremely smooth surfaces, and very high aspect ratios. Examples of the structures, morphology, and performance of some patterned materials and OFET devices will be shown.


Web Page: www.ElectronicsPrinting.com

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