(Keynote) Nanomaterials for Printable Electronics

The National Research Council (NRC) is Canada’s premier organization for research and technology development. NRC’s Printable Electronics (PE) program develops materials and inks for additive manufacturing in order to enable a sustainable PE sector in Canada. Progress has been made over the last 20 years, yet many challenges remain at the materials, fabrication and integration level, limiting performance and commercialization. This presentation covers our progress in high purity semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotube (sc-SWCNT) enrichment and transistor fabrication via solution based processes as well as conductive molecular ink development [1-11]. I will highlight our recent progress in understanding sc-SWCNT enrichment using conjugated polymers (isolation of high purity sc-SWCNT), with special consideration given to the effects of solvent parameters and doping on the mechanism and yield/purity of the final product [2-4]. Removal of the wrapping polymer using a dry process on-wafer will also be described [5]. Challenges and advances associated with using polymer-based dielectrics and encapsulants will be discussed as well [6-7]. Such transistor packages have enabled the realization of fully inkjet-printed transistors as a result of the excellent electrical properties of sc-SWCNTs [8]. A demonstration of a fully additive process to make TFT backplanes via R2R printing will also be highlighted. Developments in conductive molecular inks and progress towards the commercialization of new applications such as in-mold electronicswill also be described [9-11]. The development of new functional nanomaterials and their successful integration into devices will enable additive manufacturing of TFT arrays and in-mold electronics. [1] J. Lefebvre et al. Acc. Chem. Res. 50, 2479 (2017). [2] J. Ouyang et al. ACS Nano 12, 1910 (2018). [3] J. Ding et al. J. Phys. Chem. C 120, 21946 (2016). [4] Z. Li et al. ACS Omega 3, 3413 (2018). [5] Z. Li et al. Adv. Funct. Mater. 28, 1705568 (2018). [6] J. Lefebvre et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 107, 243301 (2015). [7] F. Lapointe et al. Appl. Mater. Interfaces 11, 36027 (2019). [8] C. Homenick et al. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 8, 27900, (2016) [9] A. J. Kell et al. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 9, 17226 (2017). [10] C. Paquet et al. Nanoscale 10, 17226 (2018). [11] B. Deore et al. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 11, 38880 (2019).