US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Inkjet Printing of Electronic and Optoelectronic Devices

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project supports a cooperative research effort by Dr. Vivek Subramanian of the University of California-Berkeley in collaboration with Dr. Ahmed Khalil of the Egypt Nanotechnology Center, Cairo, Egypt. They plan to study "Inkjet Printing of Electronic and Optoelectronic Devices". Inkjet printing is a valuable method for fabricating electronic and optoelectronic devices on large areas and at low-cost. Although tremendous progress has been made in integrating inkjet printing into various electronic systems, inkjet printing still produces lower resolution compared to conventional and generally more expensive patterning techniques. The PIs will attempt to expand the capabilities of inkjet printing to fabricate devices such as transistors, solar cells, and sensors by developing techniques to improve the capabilities of inkjet printing. This project will support exchange visits and preliminary research efforts. The PIs plan to submit a long-term collaborative research proposal following based on this project. The two teams will together examine the possibility of increasing the quality of printed structures as well as the resolution at different printing parameters. The interaction between the ink and the substrate will be studied in details using different homogeneous and pre-patterned substrates as well as different ink materials. For pre-patterning of the substrates, microcontact printing and gravure printing will be utilized with the aim to control the wettability as well as the roughness of the substrates. Different types of inks will be used to study the interaction between the ink and patterned substrates. This process will allow PIs to pattern inks with resolutions never previously achieved by inkjet printing. The PIs have complementary background in the control of surface energy (Egypt) and printed electronics (US). The proposed techniques will allow the PIs to achieve significantly enhanced resolution of the printed electronic structures. The project will facilitate intellecutal and cultural exchange between the two complementary research groups. Graduate students will be exchanged in both directions, providing important exposure to broader cultural and research approaches for these scientists and engineers at an early stage in their professional careers,enabling them to become broader, well-rounded researchers. This project will also support research by undergraduates who will be involved in all stages of effort and will also be candidates for researcher exchange. It is expected that these exchange opportunities will serve as a tremendous recruiting and retention tool for undergraduates, and further, will broaden their global awareness, helping them advance in their future careers. Within the project, graduate students from Egypt and USA will be trained in developing low-cost printing techniques for different applications. This project is funded through the US-Egypt Joint Science and Technology Fund Program. Support for the U.S. side of these cooperative projects is provided to the National Science Foundation by the U.S. Department of State. The Egyptian Government provides support for the Egyptian side of the collaboration.