Foundry-compatible high-resolution patterning of vertically phase-separated semiconducting films for ultraflexible organic electronics

Solution processability of polymer semiconductors becomes an unfavorable factor during the fabrication of pixelated films since the underlying layer is vulnerable to subsequent solvent exposure. A foundry-compatible patterning process must meet requirements including high-throughput and high-resolution patternability, broad generality, ambient processability, environmentally benign solvents, and, minimal device performance degradation. However, known methodologies can only meet very few of these requirements. Here, a facile photolithographic approach is demonstrated for foundry-compatible high-resolution patterning of known p- and n-type semiconducting polymers. This process involves crosslinking a vertically phase-separated blend of the semiconducting polymer and a UV photocurable additive, and enables ambient processable photopatterning at resolutions as high as 0.5 μm in only three steps with environmentally benign solvents. The patterned semiconducting films can be integrated into thin-film transistors having excellent transport characteristics, low off-currents, and high thermal (up to 175 °C) and chemical (24 h immersion in chloroform) stability. Moreover, these patterned organic structures can also be integrated on 1.5 μm-thick parylene substrates to yield highly flexible (1 mm radius) and mechanically robust (5,000 bending cycles) thin-film transistors.