Researchers Create Jet-Printed Plastic Transistor Arrays

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 29 -- The Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) has developed what it says is the first plastic semiconductor transistor array entirely patterned using jet printing, a development it says will revolutionize display technology.

According to the researchers, jet printing will lower the cost of active-matrix display backplanes by replacing vacuum deposition and photolithography in current manufacturing; they said it is also expected to open new markets for wall-sized TVs, unbreakable cell phone displays, rollable displays and electronic paper.

Bob Street, research fellow at PARC, said, "These printed transistors have exceptional performance for polymers and meet all the requirements for addressing displays: high mobility, low leakage and good stability."

The scientists at PARC perfected the technique of jet-printing polymer semiconductors to make high-performance transistor arrays; this advancement builds on the invention of polythiophene-based semiconducting polymer ink developed at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC) by Beng Ong.

Under a National Institute of Standards and Technology grant, scientists from PARC and XRCC are collaborating with teams at Motorola Labs and Dow Chemical to "develop novel organic electronic materials and processing technologies to enable the fabrication of large-area electronic devices, such as displays, using relatively inexpensive printing technologies in lieu of semiconductor lithography."

For more information, visit: www.parc.com