Roll-to-roll compatible organic thin film transistor manufacturing technique by printing, lamination, and laser ablation

• A roll-to-roll compatible lamination technique for printed electronics is proposed.
• Laser ablation allows highly defined metal top and bottom electrodes.
• Method opens up processing possibilities for incompatible materials and solvents.
• Shearing forces may enhance molecular orientation and packing.
• An air stable polymer transistor is demonstrated with a lifetime of years.

We present roll-to-roll printing compatible techniques for manufacturing organic thin film transistors using two separately processed foils that are laminated together. The introduction of heat-assisted lamination opens up possibilities for material and processing combinations. The lamination of two separately processed substrates together will allow usage of pre-patterned electrodes on both substrates and materials with non-compatible solvents. Also, the surface microstructure is formed differently when laminating dry films together compared to film formation from liquid phase. Demonstrator transistors, inverters and ring oscillators were produced using lamination techniques. Finally, a roll-to-roll compatible lamination concept is proposed where also the source and drain electrodes are patterned by laser ablation. The demonstrator transistors have shown very good lifetime in air, which is contributed partly to the good material combination and partly to the enhanced interface formation in heat-assisted lamination process.