Liquid Metal‐Printed Semiconductors

Abstract

Liquid metal electronic ink (e‐ink) that made from gallium, indium, tin, zinc, bismuth or their alloy is promising new generation material for printed electronics. Extended from this ideal platform, such ink can be post‐processed or loaded with semiconductor nanoparticles to further make semiconductors in the forms of dots, wires and films on its surface. In this way, targeted semiconductors can be quickly fabricated and patterned as desired via the printing way with low cost at around the room temperature. This leads to the unconventional bottom‐up strategy for direct additive manufacture of functional devices. Along this direction, a series of p‐n junction diodes, field effect transistors and light‐emitting devices have been developed so far. It is clear that the liquid metal printed semiconductor would significantly innovate the classical processes of preparing integrated circuits (IC) and electronic devices. To push forward further progress of this cutting‐edge frontier, this article is dedicated to present an overview of liquid metal printed semiconductor. We first introduce the material category of liquid metal semiconductor e‐inks and their synthesis approaches. Then the core strategies toward printing semiconductors are systematically outlined. Following that, we summarize the typical printed semiconductor materials and electronic devices thus constructed as well as their potential applications. Lastly, scientific and technical challenges thus raised are interpreted. Perspective in the area is given.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.