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2003
Conference Paper
Titel
Evaluation of reel-to-reel processes for polymer electronics
Abstract
In this work reel-to-reel processes for polymer devices have been investigated. Reel-to-reel fabrication differs from wafer processing, commonly used for research in organic devices mainly in two ways: Only flexible substrates, generally polymer foils, can be considered and coating or patterning has to be done in direction of the material flow. For solution based deposition spin coating is an often used method for fabrication of thin layers, but is no suitable way to achieve a continuous process flow. In this investigation spin coated layers of the soluble polymer semiconductor poly 3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) are compared to layers, which are fabricated with reel-to-reel compatible methods like drop casting and blading. Influences on saturation current, carrier mobilities and threshold voltage can be observed and are related to the processing conditions. Another crucial step in fabrication of a polymer transistor is the deposition of a gate dielectric, which has to be thin, but shows high dielectric strength and has to be manufactured without pinholes. Several methods, ranging from solution based coatings and laminated foils are being investigated. Results are discussed with regard to performance and manufacturability. Summarizing the results of the work field effect transistors have been fabricated on foils, based on copper source-drain patterns, P3HT as the semiconducting layer, and PMMA as gate dielectric. Although these devices are not fully organic, they show complete flexibility and have curve characteristics comparable with devices based on inorganic substrates.