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- Lopez Cabezas, Ana, 1980-
(författare)
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Nanofibrillar Materials for Organic and Printable Electronics
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In recent years, organic electronics have attracted great attention due to their multiple advantages such as light weight, flexibility, large area fabrication and cost-effective production processes. The recent progress in fabricating organic electronic devices has been achieved with the development of new materials which provide competing functionalities to the electronics devices. However, as it happens with all type of technologies, organic electronics is not free from challenges. In the latest OE-A Roadmap for organic and printed electronics (2011), the “red brick walls” were identified, and the following three main challenges were pointed out as the potential roadblocks from the material point of view: electrical performance, solution processability (especially formulations in non-toxic solvents) and environmental stability. Currently there is a significant increasing interest in optimizing or developing novel materials to meet those requirements. This thesis presents processing development and study of nanofibrillar materials and deals with the optimization for its applicability for organic electronics. The overall work presented in the thesis is based on three nanofibrillar materials: Polyaniline (PANI), carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and the CNT/PANI composite. First, the solution processability of carbon nanotubes and polyaniline is studied respectively, and through covalent and non-covalent methods, stable aqueous dispersions of these materials are successfully achieved. Second, a composite consisting of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and PANI with a core-shell structure is developed and characterized. The investigation of the effects of the loading and type of nanotubes incorporated in the composite material, led to understanding on the fundamental theory underlying the composite morphology. Based on those findings and by carefully optimizing the synthesis procedure, water dispersible MWCNT/PANI nanofibrillar composite is successfully synthesized becoming compatible with solution processable techniques, such as spray coating and potentially with printing technology. With the incorporation of carbon nanotubes, the nanofibrillar composite reaches conductivities 20 times higher than that of the pure polymer. Moreover, the presence of the nanotubes in the composite material decelerates up to 60 times the thermal ageing of its conductivity, making the polymer more robust and suitable for possible manufacturing processes. Furthermore, the composite material still retains the advantageous properties of PANI: electrochromism, tunable conductivities, and sensing capabilities. Third, the stable dispersions of PANI, CNTs and MWCNT/PANI composite were effectively deposited by spray coating technique on several low-cost substrates (PET, PEN, polyimide and papers), and homogeneous, flexible, large-area films were fabricated. Additionally, by spraying the materials on pre-fabricated inkjet printed electrodes, a pH sensor based on the MWCNT/PANI composite and a humidity sensor based on functionalized MWCNTs capable of working at GHz range were demonstrated, which shows that the nanofibrillar materials studied in this thesis work are promising sensor materials for wireless application at ultra-high frequency (UHF) band. Finally, the humidity sensor was integrated into a sensor-box demonstrating a hybrid interconnection platform where printed electronics can be seamlessly integrated with silicon-based electronics. The integration closes the gap between the two technologies, anticipating the adaption of organic electronic technologies.
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| 2. |
- Li, Jiantong, 1980-
(författare)
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Ink-jet printing of thin film transistors based on carbon nanotubes
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The outstanding electrical and mechanical properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) may offer solutions to realizing high-mobility and high-bendability thin-film transistors (TFTs) for the emerging flexible electronics. This thesis aims to develop low-cost ink-jet printing techniques for high-performance TFTs based on pristine SWCNTs. The main challenge of this work is to suppress the effects of “metallic SWCNT contamination” and improve the device electrical performance. To this end, this thesis entails a balance between experiments and simulations. First, TFTs with low-density SWCNTs in the channel region are fabricated by utilizing standard silicon technology. Their electrical performance is investigated in terms of throughput, transfer characteristics, dimensional scaling and dependence on electrode metals. The demonstrated insensitivity of electrical performance to the electrode metals lifts constrains on choosing metal inks for ink-jet printing. Second, Monte Carlo models on the basis of percolation theory have been established, and high-efficiency algorithms have been proposed for investigations of large-size stick systems in order to facilitate studies of TFTs with channel length up to 1000 times that of the SWCNTs. The Monte Carlo simulations have led to fundamental understanding on stick percolation, including high-precision percolation threshold, universal finite-size scaling function, and dependence of critical conductivity exponents on assignment of component resistance. They have further generated understanding of practical issues regarding heterogeneous percolation systems and the doping effects in SWCNT TFTs. Third, Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to explore new device structures for performance improvement of SWCNT TFTs. In particular, a novel device structure featuring composite SWCNT networks in the channel is predicted by the simulation and subsequently confirmed experimentally by another research group. Through Monte Carlo simulations, the compatibility of previously-proposed long-strip-channel SWCNT TFTs with ink-jet printing has also been demonstrated. Finally, relatively sophisticated ink-jet printing techniques have been developed for SWCNT TFTs with long-strip channels. This research spans from SWCNT ink formulation to device design and fabrication. SWCNT TFTs are finally ink-jet printed on both silicon wafers and flexible Kapton substrates with fairly high electrical performance.
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| 3. |
- Luo, Jun, 1979-
(författare)
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Integration of metallic source/drain contacts in MOSFET technology
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The continuous and aggressive downscaling of conventional CMOS devices has been driving the vast growth of ICs over the last few decades. As the CMOS downscaling approaches the fundamental limits, novel device architectures such as metallic source/drain Schottky barrier MOSFET (SB-MOSFET) and SB-FinFET are probably needed to further push the ultimate downscaling. The ultimate goal of this thesis is to integrate metallic Ni1-xPtx silicide (x=0~1) source/drain into SB-MOSFET and SB-FinFET, with an emphasis on both material and processing issues related to the integration of Ni1-xPtx silicides towards competitive devices. First, the effects of both carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) on the formation and on the Schottky barrier height (SBH) of NiSi are studied. The presence of both C and N is found to improve the poor thermal stability of NiSi significantly. The present work also explores dopant segregation (DS) using B and As for the NiSi/Si contact system. The effects of C and N implantation into the Si substrate prior to the NiSi formation are examined, and it is found that the presence of C yields positive effects in helping reduce the effective SBH to 0.1-0.2 eV for both conduction polarities. In order to unveil the mechanism of SBH tuning by DS, the variation of specific contact resistivity between silicide and Si substrates by DS is monitored. The formation of a thin interfacial dipole layer at silicide/Si interface is confirmed to be the reason of SBH modification. Second, a systematic experimental study is performed for Ni1-xPtx silicide (x=0~1) films aiming at the integration into SB-MOSFET. A distinct behavior is found for the formation of Ni silicide films. Epitaxially aligned NiSi2-y films readily grow and exhibit extraordinary morphological stability up to 800 oC when the thickness of deposited Ni (tNi) <4 nm. Polycrystalline NiSi films form and tend to agglomerate at lower temperatures for thinner films for tNi≥4 nm. Such a distinct annealing behavior is absent for the formation of Pt silicide films with all thicknesses of deposited Pt. The addition of Pt into Ni supports the above observations. Surface energy is discussed as the cause responsible for the distinct behavior in phase formation and morphological stability. Finally, three different Ni-SALICIDE schemes towards a controllable NiSi-based metallic source/drain process without severe lateral encroachment of NiSi are carried out. All of them are found to be effective in controlling the lateral encroachment. Combined with DS technology, both n- and p-types of NiSi source/drain SB-MOSFETs with excellent performance are fabricated successfully. By using the reproducible sidewall transfer lithography (STL) technology developed at KTH, PtSi source/drain SB-FinFET is also realized in this thesis. With As DS, the characteristics of PtSi source/drain SB-FinFET are transformed from p-type to n-type. This thesis work places Ni1-xPtx (x=0~1) silicides SB-MOSFETs as a competitive candidate for future CMOS technology.
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