NU 2006-004

Inventors

Tobin Marks*

Antonio Faccetti

Gang Lu

Hakan Usta

Joseph Letizia

Short Description

Novel semiconducting polymers for fabrication of air-stable electronic devices

Abstract

Northwestern University researchers have synthesized three novel silole-containing polymers that can be used in production of various electronic devices. Organic polymers have been investigated thoroughly for their potential to be used in thin film field effect transistor devices. However, most materials that have been generated suffer from solubility problems or exhibit a lack of stability under ambient conditions, which causes production costs to rise. The novel silole-based polymers synthesized by the Marks group are stable in air, which makes both device fabrication and operation simpler and less expensive. All three polymers were fabricated into thin films via simple solution processing techniques (spin coating and drop casting). In addition, all of the field effect transistors incorporating these new materials performed well in laboratory tests. While there were variations between the different compounds, all devices had high hole mobility and on/off ratio, while operating at a low turn-on voltage. These desirable characteristics will make the novel silole-based polymers a material of choice for production of low-cost flexible electronic devices.

Applications

• Thin film transistors
• Solar cells
• Radiofrequency identification tags
• Flexible electronics

Advantages

• Stable at ambient conditions
• Simple to fabricate
• High hole mobility and on/off ratio

Publications

Lu G, Usta H, Risko C, Wang L, Faccetti A, Ratner MA, Marks TJ (2008) Synthesis, Characterization, and Transistor Response of Semiconducting Silole Polymers with Substrantial Hole Mobility and Air Stability. Experiment and Theory. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 130: 7670-7685.

IP Status

Issued US patents 7,816,480 and 7,605, 225. International patent application has been filed.