March 26, 2008
Flat panel printing off your inkjet-XXXS
Posted by postgradsci under Nanomaterials, New/Fun Technology, OLED, Plastic ElectronicsHa ha! At last some certifiable published research/progress on the flat-screen/organic electronics-printing front (sorry for that appauling intro…it’s early).
Japanese scientists have published in PNAS (see citation at bottom - next edition) a method to reliably print flat screen panels using a fancy new inkjet style printer (see also BBC News). The technique allows them to circumvent the problems of todays silicon-based flat panel printing processes which in order to obtain maximum purities and performances have yielded to higher processing temperatures, increased manufacturing costs, and thus a higher price for the consumer - exactly what plastic electronic technology is designed to help combat.
The inkjet printers are able to print dots of 1 micron (a millionth of a meter, 1×10-6m, a thousandth of a millimeter…very small!) on to a flexible organic semiconductor. Current printing techniques are limited in their abilities to replicate the resolutions achieved by silicon-based devices and other lithographic techniques for several reasons - one being surface tension of the inks. This new printing technique allows droplet volumes of less than 1 femtolitre - a millionth that which recent techniques allowed.
All in all…yes! Very happy with this development.
See citation below for full article…
Sekitani, T., Noguchi, Y., Zschieschang, U., Klauk, H., Someya, T. (2008). Organic transistors manufactured using inkjet technology with subfemtoliter accuracy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0708340105