CAREER: High-Performance Nanoscale Polymer Thin-Film Transistors for Integrated Circuit Applications

Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, College Station TX

Investigators

Abstract

The objective of this research is to develop high-performance organic thin-film transistors with large-scale uniformity for integrated circuit applications. The approach is to develop, fabricate and investigate nanoscale self-aligned polymer thin-film transistors with internal chain orientation. The patterning of conjugated polymer nanostructures and the manipulation of their internal chain orientation are achieved by scalable nanoimprint technique. Intellectual Merit: Nanoscale self-aligned polymer thin-film transistors with low contact resistance and high carrier mobility are expected to have cut-off frequencies over hundreds of mega-hertz. With uniform polymer chain orientation and low voltage operation, the technology is also expected to improve device uniformity and reliability, which are highly desired for reliable and repeatable plastic circuits. The ability to pattern isolated polymer nanostructures and to control internal chain packing also establishes an original experimental platform for investigating the fundamental structure-property relationships in functional polymers at the nanoscale. Broader Impact: Enabled by this research, polymer circuits operating at tens to hundreds of mega-hertz are expected to find broad applications to achieve ubiquitous sensing and computation, such as plastic radio-frequency identification tags operating at 13.56 mega-hertz and all-plastic circuits with integrated organic sensors and on-board signal processing circuitries. This project provides participating students with multidisciplinary training. Minority undergraduate students will participate in this research project through the support of undergraduate research programs. In addition, outreaching to the 7th-12th grade students to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics education will be accomplished by hosting teachers from minority and economically disadvantaged secondary schools in a summer research program.