Flexible Electronic Circuits Based on silicon ink

In an effort to develop the next generation of microelectronic transistors, scientists have long been trying to find a new solution. To solve this problem, recent studies in the field of flexible electronics is completely focused on a variety of organic and metal-oxide ink to print, which often do not have all the positive electronic properties of silicon. But recently, a team of researchers from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands has proposed a method that allows you to apply directly to the substrate is silicon, using liquid silicone ink and single laser pulses.

The ability to print on a substrate of silicon ink has been known for some time, but previously required step of thermal annealing at 350 ° C, which is too high a temperature for many flexible substrates. The new method proposed by researchers completely bypasses this step, converting the liquid silicon in the polysilicon used in the schemes.

The researchers applied the liquid polysilane directly to the paper in an oxygen-free environment. Then they were annealed layer via excimer laser [conventional tools used for displays of smartphones]. The laser burst lasts a few tens of nanoseconds, leaving the paper completely untouched. Test TFTs obtained in this manner was successful.

The greatest use of this technology can be found for wearable electronics, because it allows high-speed, low-power, flexible transistors with a surprisingly low cost. The technology also can be used for biomedical sensors and solar cells