Rapid Electrohydrodynamic Jet Printing for Self-Aligned Organic Semiconducting Layers and Printed Organic Electronics

Printing, also known as additive manufacturing technology, is an interesting way for making electronic components. Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jet printing can make extremely small ink droplets by adjusting variables such as the electric field between the substrate and the nozzle. It is a viable option for device manufacturing by using high-resolution direct printing on a variety of materials. Herein, we report EHD jet-printed 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)pentacene (TIPS-PEN) through cone-jet mode with a blending system of amorphous polymer and polystyrene and their utilization as active layers for organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) and integrated devices. To demonstrate the superiority of our system, we compare our approach of fabricating TIPS-PEN layers to an earlier reported dragging mode with TIPS-PEN from multiple perspectives, involving process conditions, printed layer fabrication, and crystal formation. Thus, TIPS-PEN layers designed in cone-jet mode are able to produce high-performance crystal formations with faster printing speed (∼10 mm/s) and finer pattern width (∼80 μm) with the same nozzle tip.