Gravure printed low voltage polymer transistors and inverters

•Thin (down to 200 nm) films were gravure printed using commercial polymer inks.•Single layer printing on plastic substrate without ink or surface modification.•Printed thin film transistors show good performance and no hysteresis.•Stable materials: air, vacuum or nitrogen processing show no difference.•Printed transistors connected as inverters operate down to 5 volts.

We present a gravure printed low voltage transistor using commercial polymer materials. Patterned thin layers (down to 200 nm) were formed by single printing steps on polyethylene terephthalate substrates which had pre-patterned metal electrodes. Materials were air stable and there was no need for substrate or metal electrode pre-treatment. Good electrical performance with minimal hysteresis was achieved. Low voltage operation is demonstrated with inverter circuits, which operate down to 5 volts.