Complementary Ring Oscillator Exclusively Prepared by Means of Gravure and Flexographic Printing

• Published in: IEEE transactions on electron devices Vol. 58; no. 8; pp. 2765 - 2769
• Main Authors: Kempa, H., Hambsch, M., Reuter, K., Stanel, M., Schmidt, G. C., Meier, B., Hubler, A. C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01-08-2011; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Circuit properties; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; Devices; Dielectrics; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electrodes; Electronic circuits; Electronic equipment and fabrication. Passive components, printed wiring boards, connectics; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Gravure; Integrated circuits; Integrated-circuit technology; Logic gates; Materials; Organic semiconductors; organic thin-film transistors; Oscillators; Oscillators, resonators, synthetizers; Printed circuits; Printing; Ring oscillators; Semiconductor devices; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Solar energy; Transistors; Performance evaluation; Transistor parameter; Chemical stability; Organic silane; Integrated-circuit technology; printing; Perylene derivatives; Ring oscillator; Pentacene derivatives; p type semiconductor; Integrated circuit; n type semiconductor; Organic semiconductors; Thin film transistor; organic thin-film transistors; Printed circuit; Small molecule; ring oscillators; Organic electronics
• ISSN: 0018-9383; 1557-9646
• DOI: 10.1109/TED.2011.2153856

A complementary ring oscillator has been prepared using exclusively fast and continuous rotary printing methods, namely, gravure and flexographic printing, so that all layers were additively deposited and no additional patterning nor interconnecting step whatsoever was involved. This became possible due to the availability of a printable air-stable n-type organic semiconductor, i.e., a small molecule perylene derivative. Using the same dielectric for both types of transistors, the characteristics of the n-type transistors are reasonably similar to the ones of the p-type transistors, which are based on the previously used organic semiconductor 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene. The printed circuits are robust against variations of individual transistor parameters and significantly outperform comparable unipolar circuits in terms of all relevant properties. The superior performance can be attributed to complementary circuitry, the advantage of which is thereby demonstrated for the case of printed circuits.