Fast polymer semiconductor transistor by nano-particle self assembly

Polymer semiconductor based field effect transistors promise low cost electronics over rigid and flexible large area substrates using fabrication techniques such as ink-jet printing. However, the low mobility of carriers in these semiconductors does not permit high performance electronics. A primary means to achieve higher speed in spite of the low carrier mobility is to reduce feature size, particularly channel length, of the field effect transistors. In this paper, we use the controlled coffee stain effect in a silver nano-particle colloid along with ink-jet printing to develop a process which helps reduce field effect transistor channel length to about 1–10 μm and improve transistor speed.