Laser-assisted maskless fabrication of flexible electronics

Abstract

The low temperature fabrication of active (field effect transistor) electrical components on flexible polymer substrates is presented in this paper. A drop-on-demand (DOD) ink-jetting system was used to print gold nano-particles suspended in organic solvent, PVP (poly-4-vinylphenol) in PGMEA (propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate) solvent, semiconductor polymer in organic solvent to fabricate passive and active electrical components on flexible polymer substrates. Short pulsed laser ablation enabled finer electrical components to overcome the resolution limitation of inkjet deposition. Continuous Argon ion laser was irradiated locally to evaporate the carrier solvent as well as to sinter gold nano-particles. In addition, a new method for the selective ablation of multilayered gold nanoparticle film was demonstrated.