1. Polyera Corporation, 8045 Lamon Avenue, Skokie, Illinois 60077, USA
2. BASF Global Research Center Singapore, Science Park Road 61, Singapore 112575
3. BASF SE, GKS/E-B001, 67056 Ludwigshafen, Germany

Correspondence to: Antonio Facchetti¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to A.F. (Email: afacchetti@polyera.com).

Abstract

Printed electronics is a revolutionary technology aimed at unconventional electronic device manufacture on plastic foils, and will probably rely on polymeric semiconductors for organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) fabrication. In addition to having excellent charge-transport characteristics in ambient conditions, such materials must meet other key requirements, such as chemical stability, large solubility in common solvents, and inexpensive solution and/or low-temperature processing. Furthermore, compatibility of both p-channel (hole-transporting) and n-channel (electron-transporting) semiconductors with a single combination of gate dielectric and contact materials is highly desirable to enable powerful complementary circuit technologies, where p- and n-channel OTFTs operate in concert. Polymeric complementary circuits operating in ambient conditions are currently difficult to realize: although excellent p-channel polymers are widely available, the achievement of high-performance n-channel polymers is more challenging. Here we report a highly soluble (60 g l^-1) and printable n-channel polymer exhibiting unprecedented OTFT characteristics (electron mobilities up to 0.45–0.85 cm² V^-1 s^-1) under ambient conditions in combination with Au contacts and various polymeric dielectrics. Several top-gate OTFTs on plastic substrates were fabricated with the semiconductor-dielectric layers deposited by spin-coating as well as by gravure, flexographic and inkjet printing, demonstrating great processing versatility. Finally, all-printed polymeric complementary inverters (with gain 25–65) have been demonstrated.

1. Polyera Corporation, 8045 Lamon Avenue, Skokie, Illinois 60077, USA
2. BASF Global Research Center Singapore, Science Park Road 61, Singapore 112575
3. BASF SE, GKS/E-B001, 67056 Ludwigshafen, Germany

Correspondence to: Antonio Facchetti¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to A.F. (Email: afacchetti@polyera.com).

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