JP2003518756A - Solution processing - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] A method for forming an electronic device including a conductive material or a semiconductive material in a plurality of regions on a substrate, wherein the operation of the device is performed from the first region to the second region. Using an electric current, the method forms a mixture by mixing the material with a liquid and forming a mixture in a first zone of a first region of the substrate and a second zone of a second region of the substrate. Wherein the first zone has a greater water repellency for the mixture than the second zone, and the third zone of the substrate separated from the second zone by the first zone. Forming a confinement structure on the substrate including a third zone, wherein the first zone has a greater water repellency for the mixture than the third zone, and This material is applied by applying this mixture. Depositing on the substrate, whereby the deposited material defines the first and second regions of the device, and the first zone's relative water repellency causes The first region of the substrate is isolated such that the first region of the substrate is spaced apart from the electrically isolated regions in a plane and resists current across the first zone between the spaced regions of the deposited material. It can be limited by the relative water repellency of the first zone.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

The present invention relates to solution-processed devices and methods of forming such devices.

Semi-conducting co-polymer thin film transistors (TFTs) have recently been developed for inexpensive, logic circuits (C. Dury, et. Al., APL73, 108 (1998)) and high resolution active matrix integrated on plastic substrates. Optoelectronic integrated circuits and pixel transistor switches for displays (H. Sirringhaus, et al., Science 280, 1741 (1998), A.
With the application of Dodabalapur, et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 73, 142 (1998)), interest has grown. High performance TFTs have been demonstrated in test devices constructed with polymer semiconductor and inorganic metal electrodes and gate dielectric layers. The highest charge carrier mobility of 0.1 cm ² / Vs and on-off current ratio of 10 ⁶ to 10 ⁸ comparable to that of amorphous silicon TFT was reached (H. Sirringhous, et al., Adv.
ance in Solid State Physics 39, 101 (1999)).

A thin device characteristic film of a conjugated polymer semiconductor can be formed on a substrate by coating a solution of the polymer in an organic solvent. Therefore, this technique is ideally suited for solution processing, which is inexpensive, has a large area, and does not undergo a chemical reaction with a flexible plastic substrate. In order to take full advantage of potential costs and ease of processing, it is desirable that all components of the device, including the semiconductive layer, dielectric layer and conductive electrodes and interconnects, be deposited from solution.

In order to manufacture all-polymer TFT devices and circuits, the following main problems must be solved. -Consistency of the multilayer structure: during the solution application of the next semiconductive layer, insulating layer and / or conductive layer, the layer below it is dissolved by the solvent used for the deposition of the next layer or Should not be inflated. If the solvent is incorporated into the underlying layer, swelling will generally occur which causes deterioration of the properties of that layer. High resolution patterning of electrodes: It is necessary to pattern the conductor layer to form TFT channels with well defined interconnects and channel length L ≦ 10 μm. In order to manufacture a TFT circuit, vertical interconnection regions (via holes) need to be formed to electrically connect the electrodes in the different layers of the device.

WO 99/10939 A2 demonstrates a method for producing an all-polymeric TFT by converting the solution-treated layer to an insoluble state prior to depositing the next layer of the device. There is. This solves the problems of dissolution and swelling of the underlying layers. However, this problem limits the choice of semiconducting materials that can be used to small and in some respects undesirable precursor polymers. further,
Techniques such as mechanical punching are used because cross-linking of the dielectric gate insulation layer makes it difficult to fabricate via holes through the dielectric layer (WO 99/10939 A1).
.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of forming an electronic device on a substrate, the device comprising a conductive material or a semi-conductive material in a plurality of regions, the operation of the device comprising: To a second region, the method forms a mixture by mixing the material with a liquid to form a mixture in the first zone of the first region of the substrate and the second zone of the substrate. A second zone of the region, the first zone having greater water repellency to the mixture than the second zone, and the first region being separated from the second region by only the first region. Forming a confinement structure on the substrate including a third zone in a third region of the substrate, the first zone having greater water repellency to the mixture than the third zone. And this mix on this board Depositing the material on the substrate by applying an object, whereby the deposited material defines the first and second regions of the device and the first zone. Of the substrate to separate the electrically isolated regions in its plane by the relative water repellency of the substrate and to resist the current flow across the first zone between the separated regions of the deposited material. The absence of this first region can be limited by the relative water repellency of this first zone.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of forming an electronic switching element including a conductive material or a semiconductive material in a plurality of regions on a substrate, the method comprising: To form a mixture, the first zone of the first region of the substrate and the second zone of the second region of the substrate, the first zone being the second zone. A confinement structure on the substrate having a water repellency to the mixture that is greater than the zone and a third zone on a third region of the substrate separated from the second region by the first region. The first zone has a greater water repellency to the mixture than the third zone, and the material is applied to the substrate by applying the mixture onto the substrate. Attached to And the deposited material can thereby be restricted to the second zone by the relative water repellency of the first and third zones.

The width of the first region between the second and third regions is reasonably smaller than 20 μm, preferably smaller than 10 μm. The material formed in the separated regions suitably forms the source and drain electrodes of the transistor.

The method suitably comprises depositing another material in the space between the spaced regions. Other materials deposited in the spaces between the isolated regions may form the channel of the transistor. The first material may be conductive and the other material may be semi-conductive. This other material may be a polymeric material. Other materials are solutions, first
May be applied from a solution of a liquid that is substantially non-repellent by the zones of.

The width of the second zone is reasonably smaller than 20 μm. The width of this second zone is reasonably smaller than 10 μm. The material deposited in the second zone is reasonably conductive. Such materials form reasonably internal connections.

The width of the overlap region between the gate electrode of the transistor and each of the source and drain electrodes is preferably smaller than 20 μm.

The width of the overlap region between the gate electrode of the transistor and each of the source electrode and the drain electrode is preferably smaller than 10 μm.

The surface of the substrate may be provided by a self-assembled monolayer, the first and second surfaces
At least one of the zones may be defined by patterning the self-assembled monolayer.

The step of patterning the self-assembled monolayer may be performed by exposing it to light through a shadow mask.

The step of patterning the self-assembled monolayer may be performed by contacting the substrate with a soft stamp.

The first and second zones may be formed on the exposed surface of the layer deposited on the planar structure.

The contact angle of the mixture in the first region is suitably larger than the contact angle of the mixture in the second region by 20 °, 40 ° or 80 °.

The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the surface of the substrate is provided by a self-assembled monolayer and at least one of the first and second zones is defined by patterning the self-assembled monolayer. .

The step of patterning the self-assembled monolayer is suitably carried out by exposing it to light passing through a shadow mask.

The step of patterning the self-assembled monolayer is performed by contacting the substrate with a soft stamp.

A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the surface of the substrate is provided by a non-polar material and at least one of the first and second zones is defined by a surface treatment of a non-polar polymer.

[0022]   This non-polar material may be polyimide.

The method may include mechanically rubbing or otherwise surface treating the polyimide to promote molecular alignment of the polyimide.

The method may include optically treating the polyimide to drive molecular alignment of the polyimide.

The surface treatment may be etching. The surface treatment may be plasma treatment. This plasma is preferably a carbon tetrafluoride and / or oxygen plasma.

[0026]   This surface treatment may include exposure to ultraviolet light.

[0027]   Preferably, one of this zone is the second zone.

The first zone may or may be capable of inducing an ordered molecular structure of a semiconducting material or a conducting material.

The first zone is most preferably capable of inducing polymer chain alignment in the conducting or semiconducting polymer.

The first zone can suitably induce alignment of chains of polymeric material deposited on the first zone.

[0031]   The alignment is preferably in the direction extending between the second and third zones.

[0032]   Preferably the chain is a chain of other material.

Preferably, the conductive polymer or semiconductive polymer is attached by droplet deposition.

Preferably the conductive or semi-conductive polymer is applied by inkjet printing.

Preferably, the width of at least one of the zones is smaller than the droplet diameter formed in the inkjet printing step.

Preferably, the boundary between the first and second zones is optically different, and the method optically detects the boundary between the first and second zones and is responsive to this detection. Positioning the inkjet printing element with respect to the substrate.

The first material may be a polymer, preferably a conjugated polymer. The first material may be a liquid suspendable inorganic particulate material.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a logic circuit, a display element or a memory element formed by the method of any of the preceding claims.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a logic circuit, display element or memory element comprising an active matrix array of a plurality of transistors formed by the method of any of the preceding claims.

[0040]   The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The preferred method of fabrication shown herein allows for the fabrication of all-organic solution processed thin film transistors in which neither layer is converted or cross-linked into an insoluble form.
Each layer of such a device may remain in a form that can be dissolved from the solution by the solvent in the solution in which the layer is deposited. As detailed below, this facilitates the fabrication of via holes through the dielectric insulating layer by localized deposition of solvent.

Such an element may comprise, for example, one or more of the following components. -Patterned conductive source-drain and gate electrodes and interconnects. A semiconducting layer with a charge carrier mobility of more than 0.01 cm ² / Vs and a high on-off current switching ratio of more than 10 ⁴ . -Thin film gate insulation layer. A diffusion barrier layer that protects the semi-conducting layer and the insulating layer from unintentional doping by impurities and ionic diffusion. A surface-improving layer that enables high-resolution patterning of the gate electrode by printing technology. Via holes for internal connection through the dielectric layer.

However, it will be appreciated that the methods described herein are not limited to the fabrication of devices with all of the features described above.

The manufacture of the device of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The device of FIG. 1 is a thin film field effect transistor (TFT) configured to have a top gate structure.
).

7059 glass substrate 1 cleaned by inkjet printing an aqueous solution of the conductive polymer polyethylenedioxythiophene / polystyrosulphonate (PEDOT (0.5 weight percent) / PSS (0.8 weight percent)) Deposit source-drain electrodes 2, 3 and the internal connecting lines between the electrodes and the contact pads (not shown) on top. Other solvents such as methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, or acetone may be added to affect the surface tension, viscosity, and wettability of the ink. PEDOT / PSS is commercially available from Bayer ("
Available as the Baytron P "). Inkjet (IJP) printers are piezo-electric. They are equipped with a precision two-dimensional conversion stage and a microscope stage to position multiple subsequently printed patterns relative to each other. Inkjet print (IJP) heads are driven by voltage pulses. Suitable drive conditions for ejecting drops with a typical solids content of 0.4 ng per drop are: Achieved with a pulse height of 20 V, a rise time of 10 μs, and a fall time of 10 μs After being dried on a glass substrate, the droplets form PEDOT dots with a typical diameter of 50 μm and a typical thickness of 500Å. .

Inkjet printing of source-drain electrodes (IJP) is performed in air. The sample is then transported into an inert atmosphere glove box system. The substrate is then spin dried in an organic solvent that will later be used to deposit the active semiconducting layer, such as mixed xylene in the case of polyfluorene polymers. The substrate is then annealed at 200 ° C. for 20 minutes in an inert nitrogen atmosphere to remove residual solvent and other volatiles in the PEDOT / PSS electrode. Then, by spin coating, a thick film of the active semiconductive polymer 4 having a thickness of 200 to 1000Å is deposited. (reg
Various semiconducting polymers such as ioregular) poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT), polyfluorene copolymers such as poly-9,9'-diotylfluorene-co-dithiophene (F8T2) have been used. F8T2 is a preferred choice because it shows good stability during deposition of the gate electrode in air. Spin coat a 5-10 mg / ml solution of F8T2 in anhydrous mixed xylenes (purchased from Romil) at 1500-2000 rpm. For P3HT, a 1 weight percent solution in mixed xylene was used. The underlying PEDOT electrode does not dissolve in non-polar organic solvents such as xylene. The film is then spin dried in a solvent such as isopropanol or methanol that will be used later to deposit the gate insulating layer 5.

A subsequent annealing process can be performed to improve the charge transfer characteristics of the semiconductive polymer. In order to obtain a polymer that exhibits a liquid crystalline phase at a high temperature, the liquid-
By annealing at a temperature higher than the crystal transition, the polymer chains can be oriented parallel to each other. In the case of F8T2, annealing is performed at 275 to 285 ° C. for 5 to 20 minutes in an inert N ₂ atmosphere. The sample is then rapidly quenched to room temperature to freeze the chain orientation and form an amorphous glass. When preparing samples on flat glass substrates without alignment layers, the polymer adopts a multi-domain structure in which some randomly oriented liquid-crystal domains are present in the TFT channel. Transistor devices in which F8T2 is prepared in the glass state by quenching from a liquid-crystalline layer show a mobility of about 5 · 10 ⁻³ cm ² / Vs. This value is greater than or equal to the mobility measured when the device provided with the F8T2 film in the spinning state is measured. The as-deposited device also exhibits a higher turn-on voltage V ₀ . This is compared to the partially crystallized as-deposited phase,
This is because the density of local electron trap states in the glass phase is low.

When polymers are prepared in a single domain state in which the polymer chains are uniaxially aligned parallel to the transistor channel, improved mobilities of typically 3-5 fold can be obtained. This is a mechanically rubbed polyimide layer (Fig. 1 (b)).
This can be achieved by coating the glass substrate with a suitable alignment layer, such as reference numeral 9). In the single domain state, the polymer chains are uniaxially aligned parallel to the rubbing direction of the underlying polyimide layer. This further improves the charge carrier mobility in devices where the TFT channels are parallel to the alignment direction of the chains. Such a process is described in more detail in our pending UK patent application No. 9914489.1.

After depositing the semiconductive layer, spin coating a solution of polyhydroxystyrene (also called polyvinylphenol (PVP)) from a polar solvent in which the underlying semiconductive polymer is insoluble. The gate insulating layer 5 is deposited by. Preferred choices of solvent include alcohols such as methanol, 2-propanol or butanol, in which the solubility of non-polar polymers such as F8T2 is exceptionally low and does not swell. The thickness of the gate insulating layer is between 300 nm (solution concentration 30 mg / ml) and 1.3 μm (solution concentration 100 mg / ml). Other insulating polymers and solvents that meet solubility requirements may be used, such as poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA) in water, poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA) in butyl acetate, or propylene glycol methyl ether acetate.

Next, the gate electrode 6 is deposited on the gate insulating layer. The gate electrode layer may be deposited directly on the gate insulating layer (see FIG. 1 (c)) or for process reasons such as surface modification, diffusion barrier or solvent compatibility. One or more intermediate layers may be interposed (see FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b)).

In order to form a simpler device as shown in FIG. 1C, the PEDOT / PSS gate 6 is set to P
It may be printed directly on the VP insulating layer 5. Inkjet printing on substrate
It is transferred to the (IJP) station, and the PEDOT / PSS gate electrode pattern is printed here again from the working liquid. The underlying PVP gate insulating layer has a low solubility in water so that the dielectric integrity is protected during printing of the PEDOT / PSS gate electrode.
PVP has a high density of polar hydroxyl groups, but its solubility in water is low because it has a skeleton similar to ultra-nonpolar polystyrene. Similarly, PMMA is not soluble in water. Figure 2
F8T2 semi-conductive layer, PVP gate insulation layer, and inkjet printed (IJP) PEDO
Inkjet printed (IJP) TFT with T / PSS source-drain and gate electrodes
Shows the transfer characteristics of. Element characteristics are measured in a nitrogen atmosphere. Each series of measurements is represented by a rising (upward triangle) and a falling (downward triangle) gate voltage, respectively. Characteristics are based on a freshly prepared batch of PEDOT / PSS (Baytron P) (
a) and one year old batch (b).
The activity of the transistor is clearly visible, but the device has a positive threshold voltage V ₀ >.
It was found that the comparative device manufactured with the deposited gold source-drain and the gate electrode exhibits a normal off-state behavior (V ₀ <0), while exhibiting a peculiar normal-on behavior with 10 V. In devices manufactured from "old" batches of PEDOT (Fig. 2 (b
))), A large hysteresis effect was observed, due to the high concentration of mobile ionic impurities (see below). Large depletion state (V _g =
When the sweep is started at +40 V), the transistor is turned on at V ^f ₀ ≈ + 20 V (upward triangle). However, in the reverse scan (downward triangle), the transistor only turns off with V ^r ₀ > +35.

Normally on-behavior and hysteresis effects are likely to occur due to the diffusion of ionic substances into one of the layers of the device. An unusually large positive value for V ₀ indicates that the ion is negative. It is expected that the positive material will compensate for some of the mobile charge in the storage layer and lead V ₀ to a more negative value. To determine the source of this ionic material, the top-gate inkjet printed (IJP) PEDOT electrode was replaced with a deposited gold electrode and the other layers and PEDOT source / drain electrodes were prepared as described above. It was found that in this structure, the device is normally off and exhibits a stable threshold voltage. This means that the doping and hysteresis effects in all-polymer devices, solution deposition of conductive polymer top gate electrodes, and device
It is implicated in the possible diffusion of mobile and ionic impurities from the PEDOT solution / membrane to the underlying layers.

It has been found that by depositing a gate electrode on a heated substrate, the value of the threshold voltage can be controlled and the amount of hysteresis can be reduced. This reduces the drying time of the droplets on the substrate. FIG. 3B shows the transfer characteristics of the TFT device in which the substrate was heated to 50 ° C. during the deposition of the gate electrode. Hysteresis effect is very small compared to the case of gate deposition at room temperature (
3b), it can be seen that V ₀ is a relatively small positive value of 6V. By controlling the deposition temperature, the threshold voltage can be adjusted within the range of V ₀ = 1-20V.

A device having a gate electrode directly deposited on the PVP layer as shown in FIG. 1C is a depletion type device. This normal ON behavior is useful for a depletion type logic circuit such as a simple depletion load logic inverter (FIG. 14 (a)).

To fabricate enhancement-type normally-off TFTs, the incorporation of a diffusion barrier layer can prevent doping of the semiconducting material during gate deposition. In the device of FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b), a thin layer 7 of non-polar polymer is deposited on the PVP gate insulating layer prior to depositing the conductive polymer gate electrode. This layer is believed to act as a diffusion barrier that prevents ionic materials from diffusing through the mesopolar PVP insulator. PVP contains dense polar hydroxyl groups that tend to increase the conductivity and diffusivity of ions that pass through the membrane. Poly-9,9'-dioctylfluorene (F8), polystyrene (PS), poly (9,9'-dioctyl-fluorene-co-N- (4-butylphenyl) diphenylamine) (TBF) or F8T
Some non-polar polymers such as 2 were used. Thin films of these polymers of about 50-100 nm can be deposited on the surface of the PVP gate insulating layer from a solution in a non-polar organic solvent such as xylene in which PVP is insoluble.

Direct printing of PEDOT / PSS from polar solutions in water onto non-polar barrier layers or onto intermediate polar polymers such as PMMA has problems due to poor wettability and large contact angles I understood. To address this, a surface modified layer 8 is deposited on the non-polar polymer. Since this layer forms a hydrophilic surface rather than a hydrophobic surface, PEDOT / PSS is likely to be formed on the surface. Thereby, the gate electrode pattern can be printed with high resolution. A thin layer of PVP may be deposited from an aqueous isopropanol solution to form the surface modified layer. The underlying diffusion barrier layer does not dissolve in this aqueous solution. The thickness of the PVP layer is preferably 50 nm. PEDOT / PSS can be printed with high resolution on the surface of PVP. Another surface modification layer may be adopted. Examples include soapy surfactants or thin layers of polymers containing hydrophilic and hydrophobic functional groups. These molecules tend to be attracted towards the underlying non-polar polymer and free surface interfaces, respectively, to phase separate into hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups. In addition, it is possible to make the surface hydrophilic by exposing the non-polar diffusion barrier to a gentle O ₂ plasma for a short time. Appropriate plasma treatment that does not impair the TFT device performance is 13.5MHz O _{2 with} 50W intensity.
Exposure to plasma for 12 seconds.

If the gate electrode is printed from a solvent that is less polar than water, such as an alcohol-containing formulation (isopropanol, methanol, etc.), then the surface modification layer above the non-polar diffusion barrier is not needed.

The integrity of the layer sequence depends on alternating deposition of polymeric material from polar and non-polar solvents. The solubility of the first layer in the solvent used for depositing the second layer is desirably less than 0.1 weight percent by volume, preferably less than 0.01 weight percent by volume.

[0059]   The standard of solvent compatibility is the Hildebrand solubility parameter, which can quantify the degree of polarity.
Can be quantified using a meter (D.W.van Krevelen, Properties of polymers,
Elsevier, Amsterdam (1990)). Solubility behavior of each polymer (solvent) is 3
Two characteristic parameters δ_d, Δ_p, Δ_hDescribed by. These parameters are
Dispersion interactions, polar, and hydrogen bond interactions between liquid polymer (solvent) molecules
Is characterized. The values of these parameters are derived from different functional groups of the polymer.
It can be calculated if the molecular structure is known by adding the contributions. this
Can be listed by the most common polymers. Often δ _p And δ_dCombined with δy²= Δ_d ²+ Δ_p ²Can be

[0060]   Free energy of mixing is ΔG_m= ΔH_m-T ・ ΔS_mObtained by This formula
At ΔS_m> 0 is the entropy of mixing, ΔH_m= V ・ φp ・ φs ・ ((
δ_v ^p−δ_v ^s)²+ (Δ_h ^p−δ_h ^s)²) (V: volume; φp, φs: in the mixture)
Volume fraction of polymer (P) / solvent (S)). According to this formula, the polymer (P) is Δ
H_mThe smaller the value of, that is, D = ((δ_v ^p−δ_v ^s)²+ (Δ_h ^p−δ_h ^s)²)^{1 / 2} It is expected that the smaller is, the easier it is to dissolve in the solvent (S). approximately
As a criterion of, if the interaction parameter D is less than about 5, the polymer is a solvent
Dissolve in. If D is between 5 and 10, swelling is often observed. if
When D is greater than 10, the polymer is substantially insoluble in the solvent and does not swell.
. In order to obtain a sufficiently steep interface in a solution processed TFT device, it is therefore
It is desirable that the solvent value D of each polymer layer and the next layer be greater than about 10.
. This is especially important in semiconducting polymer and gate dielectric solvents.
is there. In the case of F8T2 and isopropanol (butylacetate) we have D
Is estimated to be about 16 (12).

[0061]   For some device configurations, the overall multilayer structure contains mainly polar groups and
Polymers that are soluble in highly polar solvents such as
No polymer is contained at all, and it is sequentially mixed with a polymer that dissolves in a non-polar solvent such as xylene.
It can be constructed by stacking on top of each other. In this case, the δ of the solvent of the polymer layer and the next layer _p , The interaction parameter D becomes large. For example, PEDOT / P
High polarity source-drain electrode of SS, non-polar semi-conductive layer such as F8T2, deposited from aqueous solution
Deposition of a highly polar gate dielectric layer such as polyvinyl alcohol, a series of deposited layers.
Non-polar dispersion barrier layer of TFB, which also acts as an enabling barrier layer, and PEDOT / PSS gate
A transistor element including an electrode can be given.

However, it is often convenient to have a non-polar semi-conducting layer and a polar gate electrode layer separated by a single dielectric layer. This series of layers is also possible by using an intermediate polar polymer layer deposited from an intermediate polar solvent sandwiched between highly polar and non-polar polymer layers. Mesopolar polymers are polymers that contain both polar and non-polar groups and are substantially insoluble in highly polar solvents. Analogous to this, mesopolar solvents contain both polar and non-polar groups,
It is substantially soluble in non-polar polymers. In terms of solubility parameters, an intermediate polar solvent can be defined as one whose solubility parameter δ _h differs significantly from the value of the underlying polymer. In this case, swelling can be avoided even if the polar solubility parameter δ _p (δ _v ) of the solvent is similar to that of the underlying polymer layer (
Big D). The mesopolar polymer may contain certain functional groups, such as hydroxyl groups, which render the mesopolar polymer soluble in solvents containing functional groups that are attracted to the functional groups of the polymer. Such attractive action can be a hydrogen bonding interaction. Such a function of the polymer can be utilized to increase its solubility in the intermediate polar solvent and decrease its solubility in the polar solvent. An example of a mesopolar polymer is a PVP gate dielectric layer sandwiched between a nonpolar semiconducting layer and a PEDOT / PSS gate electrode (FIG. 1c). Examples of intermediate polar solvents are alkyl alcohols such as IPA (δ _h = 8; F8T2: δ _h ≈0).

FIG. 4 is an all-polymer F8T2 inkjet printed (IJP) TFT with a PVP gate insulation layer, an F8 diffusion barrier layer, and a PVP surface modification layer as illustrated in FIG. 1 (a).
The output (a) and transfer (b) characteristics are shown (L = 50 μm). The element is V ₀
It shows clean and nearly ideal normal off-transistor operation with turn-on ≤0V. The threshold voltage shift between the upward (upward triangle) and downward (downward triangle) voltage sweeps is ≤1V. The device characteristics are very similar to a standard device manufactured under inert atmosphere conditions with gold source-drain and gate electrodes. Field effect mobility is about 0.005-0.01 cm ² / V
s and the measured on-off current ratio between V _g = 0 and −60 V is about 10 ⁴ ˜.
It is on the order of 10 ⁵ .

The elements are F8, TFB (transfer characteristic in FIG. 5A), PS (transfer specific in FIG. 5B),
And manufactured with a wide range of non-polar dispersion barrier layers such as F8T2. In each case, a clean normal-off behavior, a small hysteresis effect and a threshold voltage shift were observed. These were almost the same as the values of the comparative element having the gold source-drain electrodes. This supports the interpretation that inserting a non-polar polymer below the gate electrode prevents diffusion of ionic impurities during and after solution deposition of the gate insulating layer. With this discovery, we could obtain TFT threshold voltage with good reproducibility and good operational stability.

The normally-off element provided with the diffusion barrier is preferable to the above-mentioned depletion type element. Because
This is because the former can be expected to have longer-term threshold voltage stability and longer life.

The semiconducting layer should be capable of processing conjugated polymer or oligomer materials that exhibit suitable field effect mobilities in excess of 10 ⁻³ cm ² / Vs, preferably in excess of 10 ⁻² cm ² / Vs. Any solution may be used. Suitable materials are, for example, HE Katz, J. Mater. Chem. 7, 369 (1997) or Z. Bao, Advanced Materi.
See als 12, 227 (2000).

One of the key requirements for producing printed TFTs with good stability and high on-off current ratio is the intention of oxygen in air and water during processing and printing process. The good stability of the semiconducting material against undoped doping is mentioned. Printed TFTs have been manufactured with a full range of semiconducting polymers such as F8T2 (see above) or (regioregular) P3HT deposited from a mixed xylene solution as the active semiconducting layer. 0.05 to 0.1c for P3HT TFT prepared in test element structure in inert atmosphere
The field effect mobility of m ² / Vs is slightly higher than that of F8T2. However,(
regioregular) P3HT is unstable to doping with oxygen and / or water, resulting in increased membrane conductivity and poor on-off current ratio during the printing process in air. This means that the ionization potential of P3HT is I _p ≈4.9 eV.
And relatively low. A high on-off current ratio of> 10 ⁶ has been demonstrated for P3HT, but achieving this requires a reductive dedoping step such as exposure to hydrazine vapor after deposition (H. Sirringhaus, et al. , Advanc
es in Solid State Physics 39, 101 (1999)). However, it is not possible to carry out this post-reduction processing step for the above-mentioned inkjet printing (IJP) TFTs, because doing so would also de-dope the PEDOT electrode, which would significantly reduce their conductivity. . Therefore, in order to achieve high current switching ratios, it is important to use polymer semiconductors with good stability against unintended doping with oxygen or water.

A preferred class of materials to achieve good environmental stability and high mobility are:
An AB rigid rod block copolymer containing A and B blocks in a conventional order. Structurally well defined as suitable A blocks are high bandgap ladder moieties. They have an ionization potential greater than 5.5 eV as a homopolymer and good environmental stability. Examples of suitable A blocks include fluorene derivatives (US Pat. No. 5,777,07
No. 0), indenofluorene derivative (S. Setayesh, Macromolecules 33, 2016 (200
0)), phenylene or ladder-type phenylene derivatives (J. Grimme et al., Adv. Mat
. 7, 292 (1995)). Suitable B-locks have a lower bandgap and contain heteroatoms such as sulfur or nitrogen and have 5.5e as a homopolymer.
Hole transfer moieties having an ionization potential below V can be mentioned. Examples of the hole transfer B block include a thiophene derivative and a triallylamine derivative. The effect of the B block is to reduce the ionization potential of the block copolymer. The ionization potential of the block copolymer is
Preferably, it is in the range of 4.9 eV ≦ I _p 5.5 eV. Examples of such copolymers are F8T2 (ionization potential is 5.5 eV) or TFT (US 5,777).
, 070).

Other suitable hole transfer polymers include homopolymers of polythiophene derivatives with an ionization potential greater than 5 eV, such as polythiophenes with alkoxy or fluorinated side chains (RD McCullough, Advanced Materials 10,
93 (1998)).

Instead of hole-transporting semiconducting polymers, soluble electron-transporting materials can also be used. These materials require a high electron affinity greater than 3 eV, preferably greater than 3.5 eV to prevent residual atmospheric impurities such as oxygen from acting as carrier traps. Suitable materials include solution solution processable electron transfer small molecule semiconductors (HE Katz, et al., Nature 404, 478 (200)) and polythiophene derivatives with electron-depleted fluorinated side chains. A structurally well defined ladder A block with a large high ionization potential of greater than 5,5 eV and an electron transfer B block that enhances the electron affinity of the copolymer to 3 eV, preferably higher than 3.5 eV. Also suitable are AB type block copolymers having An example of the A block is a fluorene derivative (US No. 1).
5,777,070), indenofluorene derivatives (S. Setayesh, Macromolecules 33,
2016 (2000)), phenylene or ladder-type phenylene derivative (J. Grimme et al.,
Adv. Mat. 7, 292 (1995)) is raised. Examples of electron transfer B blocks include benzothiadiazole derivatives (US Pat. No. 5,777,070), phenylene derivatives, and naphthalenetetracarboxylic diimide derivatives (HE Kats et al., Nature 404, 478 (2
000)), and fluorinated thiophene derivatives.

In order to operate the logic circuit at a high speed, the channel length L of the transistor, the source /
The overlap between the drain and the gate d should be as small as possible, ie typically a few μm. The most important dimension is L. This is because the operating speed of the transistor circuit is approximately proportional to L ^-2 . This is especially important for semiconductive layers, which have relatively low mobilities.

Such high resolution patterning cannot be achieved with current inkjet printing technology. The current inkjet printing technology is limited to the feature size of 10 to 20 μm even with the latest inkjet printing (IJP) technology (FIG. 6). If faster operation and tighter feature packing are required, techniques that enable finer feature resolution must be employed. The technique described below utilizes ink surface interactions to trap inkjet droplets on the substrate surface. This technique can be utilized to achieve channel lengths that are much smaller than those achievable with conventional inkjet printing.

This confinement technique can be utilized to enable the material deposited on the substrate to be deposited with precise resolution. The surface of the substrate is first treated to make the deposited material in the selected portion relatively attracted and repelled. For example, some areas of the substrate may be pre-patterned and some areas may be hydrophobic and other areas may be partially hydrophilic. Pre-patterning steps performed with high resolution and / or fine alignment allow the subsequent deposition to be accurately defined.

One example of pre-patterning is shown in FIG. FIG. 7 shows the manufacture of a device of the type shown in FIG. 1 (c), but the channel length L is particularly precise. The same components as those in FIG. 1C have the same reference numerals. FIG. 7A shows a method of manufacturing a pre-patterned substrate. FIG. 7 (b) shows printing and ink containment on a pre-patterned substrate.

Before depositing the source-drain electrodes 2 and 3, the thin film polyimide layer 10 is formed on the handle sheet 1. This polyimide layer is finally patterned and the source-
It is removed from the place where the drain electrode is formed. This removal step can be performed by a photolithography step to allow precise feature definition and / or precise alignment. As an example of such a process, polyimide is covered with a layer of photoresist 11. The photoresist can be patterned by photolithography to remove the photoresist from where the polyimide should be removed. The polyimide is then removed by a photoresist resistant process. The photoresist can then be removed to leave the accurately patterned polyimide. The reason for choosing polyimide is that it is relatively hydrophobic while the glass substrate is relatively hydrophilic. In the next step, the PEDOT material for forming the source-drain electrodes is deposited on the hydrophilic substrate region 12 by inkjet printing. When a droplet of ink spreads over the glass substrate area and hits the hydrophobic polyimide area 10, the ink is repelled and thus prevented from flowing into the hydrophobic surface area.

Due to this confinement effect, the ink is deposited only on the hydrophilic surface area, and it is possible to define a high resolution pattern with a small gap and a transistor channel length of less than 10 μm (FIG. 7B).

An example of a process that can be used to remove the polyimide or to enhance the specific surface effect after removing the polyimide is shown in FIG. 7 (a). The polyimide layer 10 and the photoresist 11 are exposed to oxygen plasma. Oxygen plasma
Etch the thin film (500Å) polyimide layer faster than the thick film (1.5 μm) photoresist layer. Exposed bare glass surface 12 in the source-drain electrode region 12
Becomes very hydrophilic by being exposed to an O ₂ plasma before removing the photoresist. It should be noted that during the removal of the polyimide, the polyimide surface remains protected by the photoresist and remains hydrophobic.

If necessary, the surface of the polyimide can be further exposed to CF ₄ plasma to make it more hydrophobic. CF ₄ plasma fluorinates the polyimide surface but does not interact with the hydrophilic glass substrate. Such further plasma treatment can be performed before removing the photoresist, in which case only the sidewalls of the polyimide pattern 10 are fluorinated. Alternatively, it can be performed after removing the resist.

The contact angle of PEDOT / PSS in water on O ₂ plasma treated 7059 glass is:
Compared with the contact angle on the polyimide surface being θ _pt ≈ 70-80 °, θ _glass
= 20 °. The contact angle of PEDOT / PSS in water on fluorinated polyimide is 120 °.

As mentioned above, when PEDOT / PSS is deposited from an aqueous solution on a pre-patterned polyimide layer, PEDOT / PSS is obtained even if the channel length L is only a few μm.
The PSS ink is confined in the source-drain electrode region (FIG. 7B).

The kinetic energy of the ink droplet is kept as small as possible in order to easily trap the ink droplet. The larger the droplet size, the greater the kinetic energy,
Then, there is a greater possibility that the spreading droplet “ignores” the hydrophobic confinement structure and overflows into the adjacent hydrophilic region.

The ink droplets 13 are preferably deposited on the hydrophilic substrate area 12 at a distance d between the droplet center and the polyimide boundary. On the other hand, d must be small enough that the spreading ink reaches the boundary so that the PEDOT film extends all the way to the polyimide boundary. On the other hand, d must be large enough so that the rapidly spreading ink does not "overflow" into the hydrophobic surface area. This allows the TFT
There is an increased risk of PEDOT being deposited on the polyimide region 10 defining the channel, and a short circuit may occur between the source and drain electrodes. When PEDOT droplets with a solids content of 0.4 ng are deposited on O ₂ plasma treated 7059 glass with a lateral pitch between two consecutive droplets of 12.5 μm, d≈
It has been found that a value of 30-40 μm is suitable. The lowest value of d is the wettability on the surface as well as the deposition pitch, ie the lateral distance between subsequently deposited droplets,
It depends on the frequency with which droplets are deposited and the drying time of the solution.

The hydrophobic confinement layer for defining the channel length of the transistor may serve a second function. This layer can later be used as an alignment template in depositing the semiconducting polymer in the channel of the transistor. Polyimide layer 10
Can be mechanically rubbed or photoaligned and then utilized as an alignment layer to provide single domain alignment of the liquid-crystalline semiconducting polymer 4 (FIG. 1 (b)).

The gate electrode 6 can likewise be defined by the patterning layer 14 formed on the gate insulating layer 5 which provides a surface area for attracting and repelling the solution in which the gate electrode is deposited. The patterned layer 6 can be aligned with the source-drain pattern to minimize the overlap area between the source / drain and gate electrodes (FIG. 7 (c)).

Materials other than polyimide can be used as the pre-patterned layer. Other precision pre-patterning techniques besides photolithography can also be used.
FIG. 8 demonstrates the structural capabilities of the relatively hydrophobic and hydrophilic layers and defines the liquid “ink” deposited by the inkjet printing method. FIG. 8 shows an optical micrograph of a substrate containing a flake of polyimide 10, the flake being treated as described above to be relatively hydrophobic, and a large area of exposed glass substrate 12 being relatively hydrophilic. Is processed as described above. The PEDOT material for the source and drain electrodes is deposited by inkjet printing consisting of a series of droplet runs in lines 2 and 3 approaching the flakes 10. Although the inkjet material shows a weak contrast, the end faces 2 and 3 of the deposited substance appear to be abruptly finished, and the deposited substance is thin even if it is dug down to the thickness L = 5 μm.
Limited by 0.

FIG. 9 is a photograph of the inkjet deposition process in the vicinity of the polyimide flake 10. This image was taken with a strobe camera mounted below the transparent substrate. The edges of the polyimide pattern 10 can be seen as white lines. The ink droplet 21 is ejected from the nozzle of the inkjet head 20,
Further, it is deposited at the center of the polyimide thin piece 10 separated by a distance d. Such an image can be used for precise local alignment of inkjet deposition on the lamina pattern 10 and is also used to automate the local alignment procedure using pattern recognition (see below).

FIGS. 10 and 11 show the output and transfer characteristics formed as shown in FIG. 7c and are each 20 μm defined by the differential wetting process described above.
And a channel length L of 7 μm. In any case, the channel width W is 3 mm. FIG. 10A shows the output characteristics of the 20 μm element. Figure 1
0 (b) shows the output characteristics of the 7 μm element. FIG. 11A shows the transfer characteristics of the 20 μm element. FIG. 11B shows the transfer characteristics of the 7 μm element. 7
The μm device exhibits a characteristic short channel operation with reduced current and limited output conductance in a saturated form at small source-drain voltage. Short channel, device mobility and O
The N-OFF current ratio is similar to that of the long channel device described above. That is, μ = 0.005-0.01 cm ² / Vs, and I _ON / I _OFF = 10 ^4.
It is -10 ⁵ .

The limitation of the ink is the result of the difference in the wetting properties on hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces and does not require the presence of microstructured morphology. In the example above, the polyimide film can be made very thin (500Å), which is much thinner (several micrometers) than the size of an inkjet drop in liquid form. Therefore, another technique for making pre-patterned substrates can be used by functionalizing the surface of the glass substrate with patterned self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). For example, SAM contains a hydrophobic alkyl or fluoro group or alkoxy group such as trifluoropropyl-trimethoxylene. SAM is exposed to UV light through a shadow mask (H. Sug
iura et al., Langmuir 2000, 885 (2000)) or microcontact printing (Brittain et al., Physics World May 1998, p. 31).

Pre-patterning of the substrate can easily be shared with the above-mentioned process flows, such as pre-patterning being carried out before the deposition of the layer of TFT. Thus, a wide range of patterning and printing techniques can be used and high resolution pre-patterns can be generated without the risk of degrading the active polymer layer.

Similar techniques can be applied to pre-pattern the surface or surface modification layer of the gate insulating layer prior to the deposition of the gate electrode to achieve a low overlap capacitance. As shown in FIG. 7C, the gate electrode 6 is defined by the pattern layer 14. One possible example of this type of pre-patterning method is by microcontact printing or UV photopatterning of self-assembled monolayers (SAM) containing chlorosilanes such as octadecyltrichlorosilane or methoxysilanes. is there. These molecules form a stable monolayer on the surface of SiO ₂ or glass substrates where they chemically bond with the hydroxyl groups on the polar surface and also make them surface hydrophobic. The inventors have found that similar monolayers can be formed on the surface of gate dielectric monomolecules (polymers) such as PVP or PMMA. This is likely due to the attachment of molecules to the hydroxyl groups on the PVP surface. A surface free energy pattern consisting of thin hydrophilic lines with well-defined small overlap by source-drain electrodes surrounded by SAM-coated hydrophobic regions is easily defined by a soft lithographic stamping process. This stamping step can be performed under an optical microscope or mask aligner to match the stamp pattern with respect to the underlying source-drain electrodes. When conductive water-based polymer ink is deposited on top,
Deposition is limited to the thin hydrophilic lines defined by the self-assembled monolayer. In this way, thinner line widths can be achieved than would be achieved with normal line widths on unpatterned gate electrode layers. This makes the source /
It reduces the drain-to-gate overlap capacitance.

With the help of the pre-patterned substrate, high speed logic circuits based on the TFT and the via hole manufacturing process described there can be manufactured.

One of the decisive conditions for manufacturing a transistor circuit over a large area is
Deposition alignment and alignment for patterns on a substrate. Achieving proper alignment is especially difficult on flexible substrates that exhibit distortion over large areas. If the substrate is distorted between successive patterning steps, the next mask level during the photolithographic step will no longer overlap with the underlying pattern. The high resolution inkjet printed circuit boards developed here are suitable for achieving precise registration over large areas, even on plastic substrates.
This is because the position of the inkjet head can be locally adjusted with respect to the pattern on the substrate (FIG. 9). This local alignment step is automatically possible using a pattern recognition technique that uses an image, such as the pattern of the technique of FIG. 9, which modifies the position of the inkjet head, in combination with a feedback mechanism.

To form a multi-transistor integrated circuit using devices of the type described above, it is desirable to form via holes to be directly interconnected through the thickness of the device. This is because a circuit of this kind will be made particularly compact. One method of forming such internal connections is to use solvent-formed via holes as described below. This method has the practical advantage that the solvent-treated layer of the TFT described above is not converted to the insoluble form at all. This allows the opening of via holes due to local deposition of solvent.

To form a solvent-formed via hole (FIG. 12 (a)), a certain amount of a suitable solvent 29 is locally deposited on the top of the layer, where the via hole is formed. The solvent is selected so that it can dissolve the lower layer in which holes are formed. The solvent penetrates the layer by gradual dissolution until a via hole is formed. Dissolved material is deposited on the sidewall W of the via hole. The type of solvent and the method of depositing it are selected according to the particular application. However, four preferred viewpoints are:
1. The solvent and processing conditions are such that the solvent is vaporized or otherwise easily removed, thereby not interfering with subsequent processing and transiently through the device,
Or it does not dissolve inaccurately; 1. 2. The solvent is deposited by a selected process such as IJP so that a precisely controlled amount of solvent can be precisely applied to the desired location on the substrate; and 3. 3. The diameter of the via hole is affected by the surface tension of the solvent droplet and the solvent's ability to wet the substrate; and 4. The solvent does not dissolve the underlying layer where the electrical connection is made.

FIG. 12 (a) illustrates the deposition of a methanol solvent (including 20 ng per drop) droplet 29 on a partially formed transistor device of the general type shown in FIG. 1 (c). Show. The partial element of FIG. 12A is a PVP insulating layer 28, F8T with a thickness of 1.3 μm.
2 includes a semi-conductive layer 27, a PEDOT electrode layer 26 and a glass substrate 25. In this example, it is desirable to form a via hole that penetrates the insulating PVP layer. Methanol is chosen as the solvent because of its ability to dissolve PVP readily, that is, it evaporates readily so as not to interfere with subsequent processing steps and has satisfactory wetting properties for PVP. To form a via hole in this example, an inkjet (IJP) print head is moved to a position on the substrate where the via hole is to be formed. Therefore, the required number of appropriately sized methanol droplets are dispensed from the inkjet (IJP) printhead until the via holes are completed. The period between successive drops is selected to match the rate at which methanol dissolves the layers of the device.
Each droplet is preferably completely or almost completely evaporated before the next droplet is deposited. Care must be taken that when the via hole reaches the underlying non-polar semi-conductive layer, the etching process is stopped and the underlying layer is not removed. Other solvents such as isopropanol, ethanol, butanol or actone can also be used. To achieve high throughput, it is desirable to complete the via holes by depositing a single solvent droplet. For a 300 nm thick film and droplets with a volume of 30 pl and a diameter of 50 μm, achieving this requires solubility of the layer in solvents above 1-2% by weight per volume. Higher boiling points are further desired when the formation of via holes with a single droplet is required. In the case of PVP, 1,2-dimethyl-2-imidazolidione (D
MI) can be used.

FIG. 12B shows the effect of dropping several drops of methanol in sequence at the position of the via hole. The right panel shows micrographs of the device after dropping 1, 3 and 10 drops. The left panel shows the Dektak surface profile measurements of the same device across the formed via hole. (The position of the via hole is generally indicated by position "V" in each panel.) When several drops are successively dropped at the same position, a crater is opened in the PVP film. The depth of this crater increased with the action of successive drops, and after about 6 drops the surface of the underlying F8T2 layer was flipped. The dissolved PVP material was deposited in the wall W at the side of the via hole. The diameter of the via hole is about 50 μm, which is limited by the size of the droplet.
This size is suitable for many applications such as logic circuits and large area displays.

The diameter of the via hole is determined by the droplet size of the inkjet solvent. The diameter of the holes was observed in direct proportion to the diameter of the droplet (see Figure 12c). The outer diameter of the side wall is determined by the size and diffusion of the first droplet and is independent of the thickness of the dissolved polymer layer. For applications where smaller holes are required, such as high resolution displays, even when smaller droplet sizes are used,
Alternatively, the substrate surface can be pre-patterned by any suitable technique to limit the droplets on the surface described above. Other solvents can also be used.

From the surface profile measurement results, it can be seen that the formation of via holes dissolves the material and also moves it to the edges of the via holes, which remain after the solvent is evaporated (indicated by W in FIG. 12 (b)). ). It should be noted that the transferred material has a smoother shape than that shown in Figure 12 (b), and the x and y axes of the surface morphology are on different scales, plotting Figure 12 (b). (X is in μm unit and y is in Å unit).

[0099]   The mechanism of via hole formation, that is, the movement of material to the side wall, depends on the inclusion of solute.
Occurs when the contact line of a dry drop of water is pinned
It is believed to be similar to the well-known coffee stain action. The pinning action can be, for example, the surface
Occurs due to roughness or chemical heterogeneity. It is important to note that
The precipitation of the deposited solvent is always to generate surface roughness during dissolution. Solvent evaporates
Occasionally, capillary flow is replaced by solvent evaporation near the contact line. contact
More solvent near the line due to the larger surface-to-bulk ratio.
Evaporate by the side. Capillary flow velocity is large compared to typical diffusion velocity.
If solute is transported to the edge of the droplet, and solute precipitation occurs only near the rim,
It does not occur in the center of dry droplets (R.D. Deegan et al., Nature 389, 827 (1997)).
Solute diffusion is more likely to occur throughout the area when the solvent dries than when sidewalls are formed.
However, it tends to result in preferable uniform reprecipitation. Capillaries can be predicted theoretically
The velocity V (r) of the flow (r: distance from the center; R: radius of the droplet) is (R-r) ^- proportional to λ, where λ = (π-2θ_c) / (2π-2θ_c). Therefore, V
Increases with increasing λ, the contact angle θ_cBecomes smaller. Therefore, at the edge
The earlier the amount of precipitation occurs, the smaller the contact angle.

Therefore, for the opening of the via hole, it is important that (a) the contact line of the initial droplet is pinned, and (b) the contact angle of the droplet on the top of the polymer to be dissolved is Small enough, and (c) solvent evaporation is fast enough that polymer solute diffusion is negligible. In the case of IPA on PVP, the contact angle is on the order of 12 ° and the droplets are generally dry within less than 1 s.

The smaller the contact angle, the faster the capillary flow velocity inside the droplet. That is, the formation of sidewalls becomes more reliable. However, on the one hand, the smaller the contact angle, the larger the droplet diameter. Therefore, there is an optimum contact angle to achieve a small diameter via hole with well defined sidewalls. In order to achieve a better contact angle to the solvent, the surface of the substrate is treated, for example, by a self-assembled monolayer with a greater repulsion of the solvent. This self-assembled monolayer is patterned to provide, for example, hydrophobic and hydrophilic surface areas because it is limited to areas where solvent deposition is small.

The depth of the via hole and the etching rate are adjusted by a combination of the number of droplets of the dropped solvent, the frequency with which the droplets are deposited, and the evaporation rate of the solvent compared to the rate that is the ability to dissolve the substrate. can do. The environment in which precipitation occurs and the temperature of the substrate affect the evaporation rate. A layer of material that is insoluble or slowly soluble in the solvent can be used to limit the depth of dissolution.

Since the layer sequence of the TFT is composed of alternating polar and non-polar layers, it is possible to select solvents and solvent combinations to stop the etching at a well-defined depth.

In order to carry out the contact through the via hole, a conductive layer is deposited thereon, which extends into the via hole and also makes an electrical connection with the material under the via hole. FIG. 13A shows an element of the type shown in FIG. 12A, which includes the step of forming the gold electrode 25 after the above-described formation of the via hole.

FIG. 13 shows in curve 30 the current-voltage characteristics measured between the lower PEDOT electrode 25 and the conducting electrode 29 deposited on top of the PVP gate insulating layer 28. The diameter of the via hole was 50 μm. For comparison, curve 31 shows a standard sample with no via holes placed in the overlap region between the top and bottom electrodes. The characteristics clearly show that the current passing through the via hole is several times higher than the leakage current passing through the gate insulating part where the via hole does not exist. The measured current passing through the via hole is limited by the conductivity of the PEDOT electrodes and can be seen by performing conductivity measurements on the individual PEDOT electrodes. Not limited by the resistance value of the via hole, a low limit estimate of the resistance value R _v of the via hole can be obtained from these measurements. That is, R _v <500 kΩ.

The method of forming a via hole described above with reference to FIG. 12 is applied to a depletion layer type device (as shown in FIG. 1C) without a diffusion barrier, and the diffusion barrier is deposited after the via hole is opened. It can be directly applied to the device. FIG. 14A shows a device in which a via hole is formed and a gate electrode is deposited without interposing a diffusion barrier layer. FIG. 14 (b) shows a similar device in which the diffusion barrier polymer 7 was formed during the deposition of the gate electrode 6 after the via hole was formed. In this case, the diffusion barrier layer needs to exhibit excellent charge transfer characteristics in order to minimize the via hole resistance R _v . The optimal diffusion barrier is a thin layer of TFB as shown in Figure 5 (a).

If a uniform low contact resistance is required, the semiconducting layer is also removed at the via hole sites. This is preferably done after the diffusion barrier has been formed. The diffusion barrier 7 and the semiconducting polymer 4 are locally dissolved by inkjet printing (IJP) deposition of an excellent solvent for them, xylene in this example. By mixing a good solvent for the semiconducting substance and the insulating substance, both layers are dissolved simultaneously. A device in which this is done following the deposition of the gate electrode is shown in FIG.
It is shown in c).

The mixture of solvents can be used to reduce the diameter of the via holes by increasing the contact angle of the solvent mixture on the layer to be dissolved.

Another method of forming via-hole interconnects, and thus depositing and bridging conductive material, is to locally deposit a material that can locally modify the underlying layer substrate, Is made conductive. As an example, local IJP deposition of a solution containing a mobile dopant can be diffused into one layer or several layers. This is shown in FIG. 14 (d), where region 32 contains material made conductive by treatment with a dopant. This dopant is N, N'-diphenyl-N
, N'-bis (3-methyldiphenyl)-(1,1 'biphenyl) -4,4'
-Small conjugated molecules like triallylamine (TPD) like diamines. The dopant is preferably added as a solvent case.

A method of forming a via hole through a PVP dielectric layer is performed by using a TFT gate electrode as shown in FIG.
It can be used to connect to the source or drain electrodes in the underlying layers when needed for a logic inverter device such as that shown in FIG.
Similar via hole connections are required for most logic transistor circuits. FIG. 16 is a plot of the characteristics of the enhancement-load inverter device formed by the two normally-off transistor devices shown in FIG. 15 (b). Ratio of channel length to channel width for two transistors (W /
L) two inverters with different ratios (plot 35 is a 3: 1 ratio and plot 36 is a 5: 1 ratio). The output voltage changes from lodge high (-20V) to lodg low (when the input voltage changes from lodg low to lodg high.
≈ 0 V). The gain of the inverter, that is, the maximum slope of the characteristic is 1
Larger, this is a requirement to allow the fabrication of more complex circuits such as ring oscillators.

Via holes as described above can also be used to provide electrical connections between interconnect lines in different layers. Due to complex electronic circuits, multi-level interconnects are needed. This can be made by arranging a sequence of interconnects 72 and different dielectric layers 70, 71 deposited from a compatible solvent (FIG. 15 (d)). The via hole 73 can then be formed in the manner described above using the interconnect lines with automatic etch stop.

Examples of suitable dielectric materials are polar polymers such as PVP (70) and non-polar dielectric polymers such as polystyrene (71). These can be otherwise deposited from polar and non-polar solvents. The via holes can be opened by local deposition of a good solvent for each dielectric layer while the underlying dielectric layer comprises an etch stopping layer.

In selecting materials and deposition processes for devices of the type described above, great advantage can be gained if each layer is deposited directly from a solvent that does not substantially melt the underlying layer. It should be borne in mind that it is possible to be. In this way, successive layers can be made by solvent treatment. One method that simplifies the selection of such materials and process steps is, as exemplified for the layer sequences described above, from polar solvents and non-polar solvents to two or more different ways. It is intended to deposit layers. In this way, a multilayer element containing a soluble layer, a conductive layer, a semiconductive layer, an insulating layer, etc. can be easily formed. This makes it possible to avoid problems of dissolution and swelling of the underlying layer.

The device structures, materials and processes described above are merely exemplary. Obviously they may be modified.

Other device structures different from the top gate structure shown in FIG. 1 may be used. Another structure is the more standard bottom gate structure shown in FIG.
It can also incorporate a diffusion barrier 7 and a surface modification layer 8 if required. 17, similar parts have the same reference numerals as in FIG. Other device structures having a structure in which different layers are continuous can also be used. Devices other than transistors can be formed in a similar manner.

The PEDOT / PSS can be replaced with any conductive polymer that can be precipitated from the solvent. Examples include polyaniline and polypyrrole. Nevertheless, some attractive features of PEDOT / PSS are: (a) polymerization impurities with intrinsically low diffusivity, (b) good temperature and air stability, and (c) efficiency. Well matched to the ionization potential of the common hole-transporting conductive polymer enabling good hole-charge carrier injection.
It is the work function of eV.

Efficient charge carrier injection can be achieved especially with a channel length L <10 μ.
Very important for short channel transistor devices with m. In such a device, the source-drain contact resistance effect may limit the TFT current for small source-drain voltage (FIG. 10 (b)). Injections from PEDOT source / drain electrodes were found to be more efficient than injections from inorganic gold electrodes in devices with comparable channel lengths.
This indicates that polymerized source / drain electrodes with an ionization potential well matched to the semi-conductive ones are preferred over inorganic electrode materials.

The conductivity of PEDOT / PSS deposited from an aqueous solution (Baytron P) is about 0.1-1S.
/ Cm. High conductivity up to 100 S / cm can be obtained with compositions containing a mixture of solvents (Bayer CPP 105T containing isopropanol and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP)). In the latter case, it should be noted that the solvent combinations of composition are compatible with the solubility requirements of the layer sequence. For applications requiring uniformly high conductivity, other conductive polymers such as colloidal suspensions of metal-inorganic particles in liquids, or conductors suitable for processing in solution can be used. .

The processes and devices described herein are not limited to devices made of solution-treated polymers. Some of the conductive electrodes of the TFT and / or interconnects in the circuit or display element (see below) are, for example, by printing a colloidal suspension or by electroplating on a pre-patterned substrate. It can be formed from an inorganic conductor that can be deposited. In devices where not all layers are deposited from solution, one or more PEDOT / PSS portions of the device can be replaced with an insoluble conductive material such as a vacuum deposited conductor.

The semiconducting layer can further be replaced with a semiconducting material suitable for treatment with another solution. Possibly a small conjugated molecule (JG
Laquindanum, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 120, 664 (1998)), a semiconductive organic-inorganic hybrid substance self-assembled from a solution (CR Kagan, et al., Sciencs 286).
, 946 (1999)), or an inorganic semiconductor (B) deposited by a solution of CdSe nanoparticles or the like.
.A. Ridley, et al., Science 286, 746 (1999)).

The electrodes can be patterned by other techniques different from inkjet printing. A suitable technique is soft lithographic printing (JA Rogers et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 75, 1010 (1999); S. Brit.
tain et al., Physics World May 1998, p. 31), screen printing (W
O 99/10939), or plating, or simple dip coating of patterned substrates with hydrophobic and hydrophilic surface regions. Inkjet printing is believed to be particularly suitable for large areas that are patterned with good resistance, especially for flexible plastic substrates.

Instead of glass sheets, one or more elements could be deposited on another substrate material such as Perspex or on a flexible plastic substrate such as polyethersulfone. Such materials are preferably in sheet form, are preferably polymeric materials, and may be transparent and / or flexible.

Although all layers and components of the device and circuit are preferably deposited and patterned by solution processing and printing techniques, one or more components, such as semiconducting layers, may also be vacuum deposited. It may be deposited by a technique and / or patterned by a photolithographic process.

Devices, such as TFTs, made as described above include more complex circuits or devices in which one or more such devices can be integrated with each other and / or with other devices. It is a part. Examples of applications include logic circuits and active matrix circuitry for displays or memory devices, or user-defined gate array circuits.

The basic component of the logic circuit is the inverter shown in FIG. If all transistors on the substrate are either depletion type or accumulation type, then three possible structures are possible. Depletion load inverter (Fig. 15 (
a)) is usually suitable for devices that are (FIGS. 1 (c) and 3), and enhancement-load structures (FIG. 15 (b)) are normally off transistors (FIG. 1 (a /)).
b) and FIG. 4). The two structures each require a via hole between the gate and drain electrodes of the load transistor and its source.
Another structure is a resistive load inverter (FIG. 15 (c)). The elements of a resistive load inverter can be made by printing thin, narrow PEDOT lines of suitable length and conductivity such as load resistors. By reducing the conductivity of the PEDOT, for example by increasing the ratio of PSS to PEDOT, the length of the resistor line can be minimized. 0.4 PEDO
The conductivity of Baytron P PEDOT / PSS with T / (PEDOT + PSS) weight ratio was measured to be about 0.2 S / cm for the deposited film. Annealing at 280 ° C. for 20 minutes under N ₂ atmosphere increased the conductivity to 2 S / cm. By diluting the solution with / PSS, the conductivity could be reduced by magnitude. With a PEDOT / (PEDOT + / PSS) weight ratio of 0.04, 10 ^-3 S / c
The conductivity of m was measured after annealing at 280 ° C. A resistor with a resistance of 50 MΩ was made by inkjet printing a line of PEDOT with a width of approximately 60 μm and a length of 500 μm.

Different developed inkjet printing components, namely:
Transistors, via hole interconnects, resistors, capacitors, multilayer interconnects, etc. can be integrated to make integrated electronic circuits by a combination of direct printing and solution processing. Inkjet printing can be used for all processing steps where lateral patterning is required. The simple inverter circuit described above is the building block for more complex logic circuits.

Solution-processed TFTs as described above have a liquid crystal (LCD) display whose suitable circuit is shown in FIG. 18 (a), or a suitable circuit is shown in FIG. Electrophoretic display (B. Comiskry et al., Nature 394, 253 (1998))
As a pixel switching transistor of a light emitting diode display (H. Sirringhaus, et al., Science 280, 1741 (1998)); or an active matrix address of a memory device such as a random access memory (RAM). It can be used as a designated element. In FIGS. 18 (a) and 18 (b), transistors T1 and / or T
2 can be formed from a transistor as described above. Functional unit 40 represents a display or memory element having current and voltage supply pads.

An example of a possible device structure for controlling the voltage of the electrodes of an LCD or electrophoretic display is shown in FIG. 19, where similar parts are given the same reference numbers as in FIG. In the drawing of FIG. 19 (eg, as in FIGS. 7, 14 and 17), the gate insulating layer has a multi-layer structure containing diffusion barriers and / or surface modification layers, as in FIG. 1 (a). Contains.

Referring to FIG. 18, the TFT source and gate electrodes 2, 3 are connected to the active matrix data lines 44 and addressing lines 43, in order to achieve proper conductivity over the entire length. In addition, they are made of different conductive materials. The drain electrode 3 of the TFT may also be the pixel electrode 41. The pixel electrodes can be formed of different conductive materials as in FIG. In devices that rely on the application of electric fields rather than charge carrier injection, it is not necessary that this electrode 41 be on a direct contact display element 40 such as liquid crystal ink or electrophoretic ink. In this structure,
The total pixel area occupied by the TFT and interconnect lines is small in order to achieve the proper aperture ratio and reduce potential crosstalk between the display element 40 and the signals on the data and addressing lines 43,44. Needs to be retained.

The structure of FIG. 19B is more complicated. However, all or most of the pixel area can be used for TFT and interconnect lines, and the display element can be connected to the data line 4 by the pixel electrode 41.
4 and the signals on the addressing lines 43 are shielded. The fabrication of this structure requires an additional dielectric layer 42 and a via hole filled with a conductive material 45 to connect the pixel electrode 41 to the TFT drain electrode 3. Beer hole
It can be created by the procedure described above.

In this structure, the aperture ratio can be maximized, and
Keep in mind that you can approach 100%. This structure can also be used in display applications with backlights, such as LCD displays, which can transmit because all polymer TFTs as made here are highly transparent in the visible spectral range. FIG. 20 shows an optical absorption spectrum measured in a F8T2 polymer TFT, where the polymer chain is rubbed with a liquid crystalline semiconducting polymer rubbed against a polyimide alignment layer that also acts as a pre-patterned layer for high resolution printing. Are uniaxially aligned. The device has been found to be highly transparent in most of the visible spectral range due to the relatively high bandgap of F8T2. Better transparency is due to F8, TFB and polyfluorene derivatives (US No.
5,777,070) can be achieved if a semi-conductive layer such as is used. Alignment of polymer chains gives rise to optical anisotropy, so that light polarized parallel to the alignment direction (plot labeled with "||") is labeled with the alignment direction ("⊥"). Absorbed more strongly than light polarized orthogonal to the The optical anisotropy further enhances the optical transparency of the TFT by orienting the alignment direction of the polymer chains perpendicular to the polarizer between the glass back surface and the backlight, thereby increasing the LCD's optical transparency. Can be used. Under polarized light, the transistor element is F8T2
When the layer thickness is less than 500Å, it is almost colorless in visible light.
All other layers of TFT, including PEDOT, have low optical absorption in the visible spectral range.

Another advantage of the low optical absorption of the semiconductive layer is the photosensitivity of the reduced TFT properties to visible light. In the case of amorphous silicon TFT, the black matrix needs to be used to prevent large off current under photo illumination. For polymer TFTs with wide bandgap semiconductors, it is not necessary to prevent the TFT from ambient light and from the display backlight.

The structure of FIG. 19 (b) is further obtained by creating an interdigitated array of source / drain electrodes with a large channel width W so that the drive current of the TFT uses a sufficient area directly under the pixel electrode 41. , Is extremely suitable for the drive transistor T1 (FIG. 18B) of the LED display.

Alternatively, the bottom gate TFT structure of FIG. 17 can also be used for all of the above applications (FIG. 19 (c)).

One of the key technological issues for the production of active matrix circuits is the PEDOT / PSS TFT and pixel electrodes 2, 3, 6 and the metal interconnect lines 43.
, 44, 41. Due to its strongly acidic nature, PEDOT / PS
S is not compatible with many common inorganic metals such as aluminum. Aluminum is easily oxidized on contact with PEDOT / PSS. One possible solution is to connect the interconnect lines and pixel electrodes 43, 44, 41 with indium tin oxide (ITO) or tantalum, tungsten and other refractory metals or this environment or a suitable barrier layer. It is made from other substances that have greater stability in use.

For display applications, further by printing onto a pre-patterned substrate, shown at 10 in FIG. 19, as described above,
It is desirable to make a TFT with a narrow channel length.

The structure of a similar device for an active matrix transistor switch is
It can also be used if the pixel element to be controlled is not a display element but a memory element such as a capacitor or a diode, eg as in a dynamic random access memory.

In addition to the conductive electrodes, some other layers of the TFT can also be patterned by direct printing methods such as screen printing or inkjet printing (IJP). FIG. 21 (a) (similar parts are labeled as in FIG. 1) shows a device in which the active layer islands of the semiconducting layer 4 and the gate insulating layer 5 can be printed directly. In this case, via holes are not required, but the connection can be made by direct printing of the appropriate gate electrode pattern 6. In the areas where the addressing lines 43 or interconnect lines 44 overlap, thin islands of dielectric polymer 46 can be printed to provide electrical isolation (FIG. 21 (b)).
).

A plurality of elements formed as described above are formed on one substrate,
It can be interconnected by a conductive layer. Is this element a single level?
Alternatively, it can be formed at more than one level, with some elements formed on top of the other. Compact circuit arrangements are formed using interconnect strips and via holes, particularly as described above.

The technology developed here for the production of inkjet printed transistors, via holes and interconnect lines can be used to make integrated electronic circuits by inkjet printing. A prefabricated substrate containing an array of hydrophilic and hydrophobic surface regions can be used to define the channel length and / or interconnect line width of a transistor. The substrate may further contain an array of highly conductive metallic interconnect lines. Using a combination of inkjet printing and deposition of successive layers from solution, an array of transistor elements is defined at custom locations with custom channel widths. The integrated circuit is then
By forming electrical connections between the pairs of transistors and the appropriate interconnects using inkjet printing of via holes and conductive lines,
Made

It is also possible that the assembled substrate may already contain one or more components of transistor elements. The substrate can, for example, contain an array of finished inorganic transistor elements, each having at least one exposed electrode. In this case, the inkjet fabrication of integrated circuits involves electrical pairing between multiple pairs of transistors and the deposition of inkjet-printed via holes, single-level or multi-level interconnects using interconnect lines and isolation pads. It is provided with formation of connection (see FIG. 15 (d)).

In addition to the transistor element, the electronic circuit may further comprise another active circuit element such as a display, a memory element, a capacitive element, a resistive element and a passive circuit element.

Using the techniques described above, units with multiple transistors can be formed and then configured by solution-based processing for specific subsequent uses. A substrate having a plurality of transistors 50 of the type shown in FIG. 1 (a), (b) or (c), for example in the form of a gate array, can be formed, for example, on a plastic sheet ( FIG. 22). Further elements such as diodes or capacitors can also be formed on the sheet. The sheet is then formed with a printing head for a suitable solvent (eg, methanol) to form the via holes 52, a conductive track 53, and a suitable material for filling the via holes (eg, PEDOT). ) And an inkjet printer having Inkjet printers can operate under the control of a suitably programmed computer that recognizes the location and structure of the transistors on the sheet. Then, by combining the via hole composition and the interconnection step, the inkjet printer can construct a circuit that performs the desired electronic or logical function by internally connecting the transistors in the desired manner. This technology thus enables the construction of logic characteristic circuits on a substrate using small, inexpensive devices.

Examples of applications of such circuits are for the printing of active electronic tickets, travel items and identification tags. The ticket or tag printing device can be loaded with a number of unconfigured units, each with a substrate that holds a plurality of transistors. The ticket printing element is capable of controlling an inkjet printer as described above,
It also includes a computer capable of determining the electronic circuitry displaying the ticket's validity function. When it is necessary to print a ticket, the printing element may be printed with via holes and / or conductive material,
Constitutes a substrate for a suitable electronic circuit, for which the transistors on the substrate
Properly configured. The substrate can then be encapsulated, for example by sealing with an adhesive plastic sheet, exposing the electrical connection terminals 54, 55. Tickets are then distributed. Once the ticket is confirmed, the input is applied to one or more input terminals and 1
The outputs of the circuits of one or more output terminals are monitored to verify their functionality. The ticket is preferably printed on a flexible plastic substrate for convenient use as a ticket.

Other user-defined circuits for pricing or for tagging can be made in a similar manner. Verification and reading of the circuit can also be performed by remote probing, for example using radio frequency radiation (Physics World March 1999, page 31).

The end-user's ability to define a circuit by simple inkjet printing with proper connection to a standard array provides significantly increased flexibility compared to a factory designed circuit. Is.

The present invention is not limited to the above examples. Aspects of the invention include all novel and / or inventive aspects of the concepts described herein, or inventive combinations of the features described herein.

Without limiting the scope of the invention to any of the definitions set forth above, implicitly,
Alternatively, applicants note the fact that they can include all features, or combinations of features, disclosed herein either explicitly or in their entirety. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the above description that various modifications can be made within the scope of the invention.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 shows different device configurations of solution-processed all-polymer TFTs.

2 shows the transfer characteristics of a polymer TFT according to FIG. 1c with an F8T2 active layer, a PVP gate insulating layer and a PEDOT / PSS gate electrode.

FIG. 3 shows the transfer characteristics of a polymer TFT according to FIG. 1c with an F8T2 active layer, a PVP gate insulating layer, and a PEDOT / PSS gate electrode deposited at room temperature (a) and approximately 50 ° C.

FIG. 4 shows the output (a) and transfer characteristics (b) of an all-polymer TFT of F8T2 with an F8 diffusion barrier and a PVP surface modification layer as in FIG. 1 (a).

FIG. 5: TFB (a) and polystyrene (b) diffusion barriers and PVP
2 shows the transfer characteristics of an all-polymer TFT of F8T2 as in FIG. 1 (a) with surface modification layer.

FIG. 6 shows an optical micrograph of an all-polymer TFT according to FIG. 1 (a) with F8T2 active layer and source-drain electrodes printed directly on the exposed glass substrate.

FIG. 7 shows the fabrication of a TFT with small channel length and small overlapping capacitance by patterning the substrate surface into hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions.

FIG. 8 shows an optical micrograph of the channel region of a transistor with L = 20 μm (a) and L = 5 μm (b) after IJP deposition of PEDOT / PSS source / drain electrodes near a hydrophobic polyimide bank.

FIG. 9 shows an optical micrograph taken during deposition of an ink droplet near a polyimide bank.

10 is formed as in FIG. 7 (c), L = 20 μm and 7 μ
3 shows the output and transfer characteristics of a transistor with each of m.

11 is formed as in FIG. 7 (c), L = 20 μm and 7 μ
3 shows the output and transfer characteristics of a transistor with each of m.

FIG. 12-1 is a schematic diagram of (a) Dektak profile measurement and (b) optical micrograph of a step of forming a via hole by continuously depositing the outer diameter and the inner diameter of the via hole determined by the diameter of the ink droplet.

FIG. 12-2 is a diagram showing a relationship between an outer diameter and an inner diameter of a via hole, a diameter of an inkjet droplet, and a thickness of a PVP layer.

FIG. 13 shows current-voltage characteristics through a via hole having a bottom PEDOT electrode and a top electrode.

FIG. 14 shows different steps of manufacturing a via hole.

FIG. 15 shows the application of via holes such as logic inverters (depletion load (a), enhancement load (b) and resistive load (c) and multi-level interconnection scheme (d)).

FIG. 16 shows the characteristics of an enhancement load inverter as in FIG. 1 (a) made with a printed all polymer TFT with different size W / L ratios of two transistors.

FIG. 17 shows another bottom gate device configuration.

FIG. 18 shows a display or a memory element that is a voltage (a) or current (
Figure 3b shows a schematic view of an active matrix pixel controlled by b).

FIG. 19 shows a possible configuration of active matrix pixels.

FIG. 20 shows the polarized optical absorption of aligned F8T2 TFTs.

Figure 21 (a) Polymer TFT with patterned active layer islands made by printing semi-conductive and insulating layers and overlapping areas between conductive interconnects separated by printed insulating islands. Indicates.

FIG. 22 shows a matrix of transistor elements connected by a network of IJP interconnects to produce user-defined electronic circuits.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H01L 29/417 H01L 29/78 616K 29/786 616V B41J 3/04 101Z 103B (81) Designated country EP (AT , BE, CH, CY, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, IE, IT, LU, MC, NL, PT, SE, TR), OA (BF, BJ, CF, CG, CI) , CM, GA, GN, GW, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG), AP (GH, GM, KE, LS, MW, MZ, SD, SL, SZ, TZ, UG, ZW), EA (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, MD, RU, TJ, TM), AE, AG, AL, AM, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB BG, BR, BY, BZ, CA, CH, CN, CR, CU, CZ, DE, DK, DM, DZ, EE, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, HR, HU, ID , IL, IN, IS, JP, KE, KG, KP, KR, KZ, LC, LK, LR, LS, LT, LU, LV, MA, MD, MG, MK, MN, MW, MX, MZ, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RU, SD, SE, SG, SI, SK, SL, TJ, TM, TR, TT, TZ, UA, UG, US, UZ, VN, YU, ZA, ZW (72) Inventor Takeo Kawase British CB Cambridge CB3 6 HW Echard Road 18F Term (reference) 2C056 FB01 2C057 AH20 AJ05 AJ10 4M104 BB36 CC01 CC05 DD06 DD20 DD22 DD51 EE03 DD01 DD01 DD01 DD05 DD01 DD01 DD05 DD01 DD01 DD05 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD02 DD01 DD01 DD01 DD02 EE47 FF01 FF09 FF21 GG05 GG2 5 GG41 GG58 HK01 HK31 HL01 HL04 HL07 HL21 NN02 NN22 NN72 QQ06 QQ19 [Continued Summary] The first region of can be limited by the relative water repellency of this first zone.

Claims (52)

[Claims] 1. A method of forming an electronic device containing a conductive material or a semiconductive material in a plurality of regions on a substrate, wherein the device is operated by a current flowing from a first region to a second region. Using the method to form a mixture by mixing the material with a liquid, the first zone of the first region of the substrate and the second zone of the second region of the substrate. Wherein the first zone has a greater water repellency to the mixture than the second zone, and a third region of the substrate separated from the second region by the first region. Forming a confinement structure on the substrate, the first zone having greater water repellency to the mixture than the third zone; Apply the mixture to Depositing the material on the substrate by means of which the deposited material defines the first and second regions of the element and is relative to the first zone. Water repellency separates the electrically isolated regions in its plane and the first of the substrate to resist an electric current across the first zone between the separated regions of the deposited material. A method of forming on a substrate an electronic device containing a conductive material or a semiconductive material in a plurality of regions, which can be limited by the relative water repellency of the first zone so that there is no region. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the width of the first region between the second region and the third region is less than 20 μm. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the width of the first region between the second region and the third region is less than 10 μm. 4. A method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the material formed in the spaced-apart region forms the source and drain electrodes of a transistor. 5. The method of claim 4 including the step of depositing another material in the space between the spaced regions. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein another material deposited in the space between the spaced regions forms a channel of the transistor. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first material is electrically conductive and the other material is semi-conductive. 8. A method according to claim 6, wherein the other material is a polymeric material. 9. A method according to claim 5, wherein the other material is deposited from solution. 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the other material is deposited from a solution of a liquid that is substantially non-repellent by the first zone. 11. A method of forming an electronic switching element containing a conductive material or a semiconductive material in a plurality of regions on a substrate, wherein a mixture is formed by mixing the material and a liquid, and the substrate is formed. A first zone in a first region of the substrate and a second zone in a second region of the substrate, the first zone being more water repellent to the mixture than the second zone. And forming a confinement structure on the substrate, the confinement structure comprising: and a third zone of a third region of the substrate separated from the second region by the first region. A zone having greater water repellency to the mixture than the third zone; and depositing the material onto the substrate by applying the mixture onto the substrate, whereby the An electronic switching element including a conductive material or a semiconductive material in a plurality of regions, wherein the deposited material can be limited to the second zone by the relative water repellency of the first and third zones. Method of forming on substrate. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the width of the second zone is less than 20 μm. 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the width of the second zone is less than 10 μm. 14. A method according to claim 11, wherein the material is electrically conductive. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the material forms an internal connection. 16. The method of claim 14, wherein the material forms a voltage on the control electrode of the transistor that can affect the current between adjacent regions of the device. 17. A method according to claim 14 or 16, characterized in that the material forms the gate electrode of a transistor. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the width of the overlap region between the gate electrode and each of the source electrode and the drain electrode of the transistor is less than 20 μm. 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the width of the overlap region between the gate electrode and each of the source electrode and the drain electrode of the transistor is less than 10 μm. 20. The surface of the substrate is provided by a self-assembled monolayer,
20. A method as claimed in any of claims 11 to 19, characterized in that at least one of the first and second zones is defined by patterning a self-assembled monolayer. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of patterning the self-assembled monolayer is performed by exposing to light through a shadow mask. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of patterning a self-assembled monolayer is performed by contacting the substrate with a soft stamp. 23. The method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first and second zones are formed on the exposed surface of a layer deposited on a planar structure. 24. The method according to claim 1, wherein the contact angle of the mixture in the first region is greater than the contact angle of the mixture in the second region by 20 °. Method. 25. A method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the contact angle of the mixture in the first region is greater than the contact angle of the mixture in the second region by 40 °. Method. 26. The method according to claim 1, wherein the contact angle of the mixture in the first region is greater than the contact angle of the mixture in the second region by 80 °. Method. 27. The surface of the substrate is provided by a self-assembled monolayer,
A method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one of the first and second zones is defined by patterning a self-assembled monolayer. 28. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of patterning the self-assembled monolayer is performed by exposing to light through a shadow mask. 29. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of patterning a self-assembled monolayer is performed by contacting the substrate with a soft stamp. 30. The aforementioned claim, wherein the surface of said substrate is provided by a non-polar material and at least one of said first and second zones is defined by a surface treatment of said non-polar polymer. The method according to any of paragraphs. 31. The non-polar material is polyimide.
The method described in 0. 32. The method of claim 31, comprising mechanically rubbing the polyimide to promote molecular alignment of the polyimide. 33. The method of claim 31, comprising optically treating the polyimide to promote molecular alignment of the polyimide. 34. The method of claim 30, wherein the surface treatment is etching. 35. The method of claim 30, wherein the surface treatment is plasma treatment. 36. The method of claim 35, wherein the plasma is carbon tetrafluoride and / or oxygen plasma. 37. The method of claim 30, wherein the surface treatment comprises exposing to ultraviolet light. 38. A method according to any of claims 30 to 37, wherein the one of the zones is the second zone. 39. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first zone induces an ordered molecular structure of the semiconducting or conducting material. 40. The method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first zone is capable of inducing alignment of polymer chains in the conducting polymer or semiconducting polymer. 41. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first zone is capable of inducing alignment of chains of polymeric material deposited on the first zone. 42. The method of claim 40, wherein the alignment is in a direction extending between the second and third zones. 43. The method of claim 41, which is directly or indirectly dependent on claim 5, wherein the chain is a chain of the other material. 44. The method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the conducting polymer or semiconducting polymer is deposited by droplet deposition. 45. The method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the conductive polymer or semi-conductive polymer is applied by inkjet printing. 46. The method according to claim 44 or 45, wherein the width of at least one of the zones is smaller than the diameter of the droplet formed in the inkjet printing step. 47. The boundary between the first and second zones is optically different, and the method detects the boundary between the first and second zones, and in response to this detection. 47. The method of claim 45 or 46 including the step of positioning an inkjet printing element with respect to the substrate. 48. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first material is a polymer. 49. The method of any of claims 1-44, wherein the first material is a conjugated polymer. 50. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first material is inorganic fine particles that can be suspended in the liquid. 51. A logic circuit, display element or memory element formed by the method of any of the preceding claims. 52. A logic circuit, display element or memory device comprising an active matrix array of transistors formed by the method of any of the preceding claims.