SONSEUROCORES: SUPRAmolecular MATerials for new functional StructurES (SUPRAMATES)
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
SUPRAMATES proposes to develop cross-disciplinary research at the interface between Supramolecular Chemistry, Materials Science, Nanoscience, Physics and Electrical Engineering. The overall goal of SUPRAMATES is to generate new knowledge by combining supramolecularly-engineered nanostructured materials (SENMs), mostly based on organic semiconductors, with tailor-made interfaces to solid substrates and electrodes, for fabricating prototypes of optoelectronic devices. We are particularly interested in developing multiscale SENMs for transistors, in-plane diodes single-photon emitters (useful for quantum cryptography), and especially photovoltaic cells and OLEDs.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Franco Cacialli (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Winroth G
(2010)
Interfacial dipole dynamics of light-emitting diodes incorporating a poly(amidoamine) dendrimer monolayer
in Applied Physics Letters
| Description | We have explored the possibility of incorporating interlayers in LEDs without the need for high-termperature treatment of the devices, thereby allowing, in principle, application to flexible devices on plastics. We have also achieved significant results in the high-resolution patterning of conjugated semiconductors. Namely, in scanning thermochemical lithography, and scanning near-field optical lithography. 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 | Chemicals,Electronics |
| 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 | 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 | Marie Curie ITN - 2009 |
| Amount | € 419,045 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | Superior |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 10/2009 |
| End | 09/2013 |
| Description | Marie Curie ITN - 2010 |
| Amount | € 527,446 (EUR) |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 11/2010 |
| End | 10/2014 |
| 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 |