SEmicoNducting SupramOlecular nanoscale wiRes and Field-Effect TransistorS (SENSORS)
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: London Centre for Nanotechnology
Abstract
SENSORS aims to generate new knowledge to underpin the development of new interfacing protocols for nanoscale organic logics. SENSORS relies on supramolecular approach to the design, synthesis and use of solution-processable Supramolecularly Engineered Nanostructured Materials (SENMs) with electronic function, to seek new solutions for solving key interfacing issues of wires and transistors prototypes (molecular-/meso-scale).
Organisations
- University College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- Linkoping University (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE (Collaboration)
- Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) (Collaboration)
- University of Strasbourg (Project Partner)
- Max Planck Institutes (Project Partner)
People |
ORCID iD |
| Franco Cacialli (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Fenwick O
(2009)
Thermochemical nanopatterning of organic semiconductors.
in Nature nanotechnology
Lazzerini G
(2011)
Low-temperature treatment of semiconducting interlayers for high-efficiency light-emitting diodes based on a green-emitting polyfluorene derivative
in Applied Physics Letters
| Description | Patterning of semiconducting polymers on surfaces is important for various applications in nanoelectronics and nanophotonics. However, many of the approaches to nanolithography that are used to pattern inorganic materials are too harsh for organic semiconductors, so research has focussed on optical patterning and various soft lithographies. Surprisingly little attention has been paid to thermal, thermomechanical and thermochemical patterning. We have demonstrated the thermochemical nanopatterning of poly(p-phenylene vinylene), a widely used electroluminescent polymer, by a scanning probe. Interestingly we were able to demonstrate, for the first time, that it was possible to produce patterned structures with dimensions below 28 nm (full-width at half-maximum), even with micron-sized probes (diameter of 5µm of the Wollaston wire used for this experiments). We also achieved write speeds of 100 µm/s. Our experiments have shown that a resolution of 28 nm is possible when the tip-sample contact region has dimensions of 100 nm or so, and we have predicted with the aid of finite-element modelling that the resolution could be improved by using thinner films and smaller probes with an optimised design (for example, micromachined doped silicon probes). These results could pave the way to direct thermochemical fabrication of a variety of electronic and photonic devices made from organic semiconductors, including nanoscale light-emitting diodes for single-photon emission and quantum cryptography applications. This work has been published in Nature Nanotechnology in September/October 2009. The work above has been complemented by advanced in the fabrication of high-resolution nanostructures in both poly( p -phenylenevinylene), PPV, and a crosslinkable derivative of poly(9,9 ' -dioctylfluorene), F8, using scanning near-fi eld optical lithography, is reported. The ability to draw complex, reproducible structures with 65000 pixels and lateral resolution below 60 nm ( < ? /5) was demonstrated over areas up to 20 µm × 20 µm. Patterning on length-scales of this order is desirable for realising applications both in organic nanoelectronics and nanophotonics. The technique is based on the site-selective insolubilization of a precursor polymer under exposure to the confi ned optical fi eld present at the tip of an apertured near-fi eld optical fiber probe. In the case of PPV, a leaving-group reaction is utilized to achieve insolubilization,whereas the polyfl uorene is insolubilized using a photoacid initiator to create a crosslinked network in situ. For PPV, resolubilization of the features is observed at high exposure energies. This is not seen for the cross-linked F8 derivative, r-F8Ox, allowing us to pattern structures up to 200 nm in height. |
| Exploitation Route | Soon after publication of our work on there has been a number of papers published in the literature about scanning thermochemical lithography, witnessing the potential of this area, and a start-up has even been spun off by IBM Zurich (Swiss litho), now commercialising advanced versions of scanning thermal AFMs for lithography. |
| Sectors | Electronics |
| Description | Global Excellence |
| Amount | £489,807 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2012 |
| End | 03/2013 |
| Description | Large collaborative project |
| Amount | € 386,000 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | ONE-P |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 01/2009 |
| End | 12/2011 |
| Description | Leverhulme trust research grant |
| Amount | £245,618 (GBP) |
| Organisation | The Leverhulme Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2013 |
| End | 09/2016 |
| Description | MC ITN - 2012 |
| Amount | € 640,000 (EUR) |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 10/2011 |
| End | 09/2015 |
| Description | MSCA ETN - 2014 - i-Switch |
| Amount | € 256,778 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | i-switch |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 01/2015 |
| End | 12/2018 |
| Description | Delft University of Technology |
| Organisation | Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Start Year | 2005 |
| Description | Linkoping UNI Sweden |
| Organisation | Linkoping University |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Start Year | 2005 |
| Description | University of Cambridge |
| Organisation | University of Cambridge |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Start Year | 2007 |
| Description | University of Oxford |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Start Year | 2005 |
| Description | University of Oxford |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Start Year | 2005 |