High-performance printed electronics based on inorganic semiconducting nano to chip scale structures

Abstract

The Printed Electronics (PE) is expected to revolutionise the way electronics will be manufactured in the future. Building on the achievements of the traditional printing industry, and the recent advances in flexible electronics and digital technologies, PE may even substitute the conventional silicon-based electronics if the performance of printed devices and circuits can be at par with silicon-based devices. In this regard, the inorganic semiconducting materials-based approaches have opened new avenues as printed nano (e.g. nanowires (NWs), nanoribbons (NRs) etc.), micro (e.g. microwires (MWs)) and chip (e.g. ultra-thin chips (UTCs)) scale structures from these materials have been shown to have performances at par with silicon-based electronics. This paper reviews the developments related to inorganic semiconducting materials based high-performance large area PE, particularly using the two routes i.e. Contact Printing (CP) and Transfer Printing (TP). The detailed survey of these technologies for large area PE onto various unconventional substrates (e.g. plastic, paper etc.) is presented along with some examples of electronic devices and circuit developed with printed NWs, NRs and UTCs. Finally, we discuss the opportunities offered by PE, and the technical challenges and viable solutions for the integration of inorganic functional materials into large areas, 3D layouts for high throughput, and industrial-scale manufacturing using printing technologies.

Development of a highly controlled system for large-area, directional printing of quasi-1D nanomaterials

“…The rapidly increasing demand for realizing electronics in flexible and deformable form factors and over large areas is challenging to meet with conventional micro/nanofabrication manufacturing techniques 1 . This is due to the inherent limitations of conventional methods, which make them more suitable for realizing electronics on planar substrates.…”

Recent Advances in Fabrication of Flexible, Thermochromic Vanadium Dioxide Films for Smart Windows

“…In model house experiments under daytime solar irradiation, the W-doped VO2(M) films applied onto glass provided a significant reduction in the indoor temperature; thus, these films are potentially viable for practical applications. Colloidal NPs enable convenient, large-scale fabrication of flexible VO2(M) film through the solution process, which is beneficial considering the expected requirement for large-scale fabrication techniques [63,65,76,137]. For the fabrication of flexible VO2(M) films, VO2(M) NPs have been coated on flexible polymer films or embedded into a polymer matrix [138].…”

Fabric based printed-distributed battery for wearable e-textiles: a review

“…For many years, printing has been used in the textile industries to include different patterns onto fabrics for decoration purposes. In an electronic industry, printing is used for integration of various electronic functions using different micro-or nano-technology based functional inks [50], which enables to print several devices from various substrate materials such as flame retardant (FR4) laminates and alumina for printed circuit boards [51], and polyester or polyamide for fabricating flexible circuits [52]. Printing techniques can also be extended to wearable electronic textiles and is now becoming an emerging technique for integrating electronic functionalities onto garments using electronic inks [53] that are compatible with the fabric and have the ability to combine each other without any degradation.…”