Low resistance conductors are crucial for the development of ultra-low-cost electronic systems such as radio frequency identification tags. Low resistance conductors are required to enable the fabrication of high-Q inductors, capacitors, tuned circuits, and interconnects. The fabrication of these circuits by printing will enable a dramatic reduction in cost, through the elimination of lithography, vacuum processing, and the need for high-cost substrates. Solutions of organic-encapsulated gold nanoparticles many be printed and subsequently annealed to form low resistance conductor patterns. We describe a process to form the same, and discuss the optimization of the process to demonstrate plastic-compatible gold conductors for the first time. By optimizing both the size of the nanoparticle and the length of the alkanethiol encapsulant, it is possible to produce particles that anneal at low temperatures (Ͻ150°C) to form continuous gold films having low resistivity. We demonstrate the printing of these materials using an inkjet printer to demonstrate a plastic-compatible low resistance conductor technology.

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We describe the rational design of oligothiophene semiconductors to facilitate solution-based fabrication of environmentally stable organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). Ultrathin films of α,ω-distyryl quaterthiophene (DS4T), pentathiophene (DS5T), and sexithiophene (DS6T) were prepared via solution processing to probe the effect of styryl end groups, oligomer length, and thin film structure on air stability. These films were prepared via solution deposition and thermal annealing of precursors featuring thermally labile ester solubilizing groups. A detailed study of the thin film structure was performed using atomic force microscopy (AFM), near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy, and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD). Functional OFETs were obtained for DS5T and DS6T and have, respectively, hole mobilities of 0.051 and 0.043 cm2/(V s) and on/off ratios of 1 × 105 to 1 × 106, whereas DS4T OFETs failed to function because of poor film continuity. The effect of both short-term and long-term exposure to air is tracked in OFETs revealing remarkable stability for both DS5T and DS6T. This stability is attributed to the elimination of reactive sites in α,ω-distyryl oligothiophenes and suggests that careful choice of end-group structure can stabilize these molecules against oxidative degradation.