Mass-printing methods in organic electronics

Printed Electronics are electronic devices, components and applications, which are prepared by means of printing methods. It is based on the replacement of conventional ink in various printing processes by electronically functional materials, which can be processed in liquid or paste-like form. Very often these materials, namely conductors and semiconductors among others, are polymers and other organics. By significant reduction of fabrication costs and by the possibility of processing large-area and flexible substrates, new fields of application can be targeted, which are hardly accessible for conventional electronics. 

After 500 years of development, printing technology offers a broad variety of methods of producing micro-patterns from all kinds of liquid-processable materials in a highly controllable manner. Especially classical rotary printing methods, also known as mass printing, have the potential of truly low-cost manufacture of electronics due to their high precision and unrivalled productivity. The Institute of Print and Media Technology at Chemnitz University of Technology (pmTUC) is the leading institution in terms of adaptation of mass-printing methods for the preparation of electronics. High-speed mass-printing of transistors, circuits, solar cells and many other electronic devices has been demonstrated. 

However, printing of electronic applications involves severe challenges originating from the particular properties of the materials and the specific requirements of the printed productsthat largely differ from conventional printing technology. Hence careful and coherent development of materials and printing processes is required in order to successfully print devices with sufficient performance. Nevertheless, performance of printed electronics is intrinsically lower compared to traditional one. Therefore one of the main challenges consists in developing novel concepts and shifting paradigms in order to not only compensate for drawbacks, but make specific use of advantages. 

In the talk achievements, current projects and new ideas will be summarized in order to give an overview of Chemnitz-based activities on the field of printed electronics as well as to stimulate discussion on potential cooperation.