Conventional ICs still suffer from certain incremental costs and are limited to silicon substrates, thereby preventing them from becoming more ubiquitous in consumer applications. Organic-based semiconductors have the advantage of being processed in solution allowing for them to be sprayed or dispensed on a plethora of compatible substrates, including paper, plastic, cloth, and glass. While many organic semiconductors so far do not exhibit the same performance as their silicon counterparts, the advantage of solution-based processing can save costs and allow for widespread integration, making them ideal materials for low-cost electronics.
In this work, we are developing the technology to make ASICs for a variety of innovative and integrated applications. Specifically, the work incorporates several areas of development: (1) the inkjet technology for dispensing and patterning the necessary materials; (2) organic-based molecules for the semiconducting material; (3) advanced materials such as nanocrystals to be used for interconnects and dielectrics; and (4) an integrated, additive process that is also substrate tolerant. We have made progress in multiple areas and are developing a fully integrated process for active devices. Such a process would be used to fabricate RF ID tags, chemical sensors, transducers, or displays on flexible and novel substrates, such as plastic or cloth.