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Transient forms of electronics, systems that disintegrate, dissolve, resorb, or sublime in a controlled manner after a well-defined operating lifetime, are of interest for applications in hardware secure technologies, temporary biomedical implants, "green" consumer devices and other areas that cannot be addressed with conventional approaches. Broad sets of materials now exist for a range of transient electronic components, including transistors, diodes, antennas, sensors, and even batteries. This work reports the first examples of transient light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that can completely dissolve in aqueous solutions to biologically and environmentally benign end products. Thin films of highly textured ZnO and polycrystalline Mo serve as semiconductors for light generation and conductors for transparent electrodes, respectively. The emitted light spans a range of visible wavelengths, where nanomembranes of monocrystalline silicon can serve as transient filters to yield red, green, and blue LEDs. Detailed characterization of the material chemistries and morphologies of the constituent layers, assessments of their performance properties, and studies of their dissolution processes define the underlying aspects. These results establish an electroluminescent light source technology for unique classes of optoelectronic systems that vanish into benign forms when exposed to aqueous conditions in the environment or in living organisms., (© 2019 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

This roadmap outlines the role semiconductor-based materials play in understanding the complex biophysical dynamics at multiple length scales, as well as the design and implementation of next-generation electronic, optoelectronic, and mechanical devices for biointerfaces. The roadmap emphasizes the advantages of semiconductor building blocks in interfacing, monitoring, and manipulating the activity of biological components, and discusses the possibility of using active semiconductor-cell interfaces for discovering new signaling processes in the biological world.

Objective: Wireless control and power harvesting systems that operate injectable, cellular-scale optoelectronic components provide important demonstrated capabilities in neuromodulatory techniques such as optogenetics. Here, we report a radio frequency (RF) control/harvesting device that offers dramatically reduced size, decreased weight and improved efficiency compared to previously reported technologies. Combined use of this platform with ultrathin, multijunction, high efficiency solar cells allows for hundred-fold reduction of transmitted RF power, which greatly enhances the wireless coverage., Approach: Fabrication involves separate construction of the harvester and the injectable µ-ILEDs. To test whether the presence of the implantable device alters behavior, we implanted one group of wild type mice and compared sociability behavior to unaltered controls. Social interaction experiments followed protocols defined by Silverman et al. with minor modifications., Main Results: The results presented here demonstrate that miniaturized RF harvesters, and RF control strategies with photovoltaic harvesters can, when combined with injectable µ-ILEDs, offer versatile capabilities in optogenetics. Experimental and modeling studies establish a range of effective operating conditions for these two approaches. Optogenetics studies with social groups of mice demonstrate the utility of these systems., Significance: The addition of miniaturized, high performance photovoltaic cells significantly expands the operating range and reduces the required RF power. The platform can offer capabilities to modulate signaling path in the brain region of freely-behaving animals. These suggest its potential for widespread use in neuroscience.

Semiconducting materials are central to the development of high-performance electronics that are capable of dissolving completely when immersed in aqueous solutions, groundwater, or biofluids, for applications in temporary biomedical implants, environmentally degradable sensors, and other systems. The results reported here include comprehensive studies of the dissolution by hydrolysis of polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, silicon-germanium, and germanium in aqueous solutions of various pH values and temperatures. In vitro cellular toxicity evaluations demonstrate the biocompatibility of the materials and end products of dissolution, thereby supporting their potential for use in biodegradable electronics. A fully dissolvable thin-film solar cell illustrates the ability to integrate these semiconductors into functional systems.

We review recent progress in a class of silicon-based electronics that is capable of complete, controlled dissolution when immersed in water or bio-fluids. This type of technology, referred to in a broader sense as transient electronics, has potential applications in resorbable biomedical devices, eco-friendly electronics, environmental sensors, secure hardware systems and others. New results reported here include studies of the kinetics of hydrolysis of nanomembranes of single crystalline silicon in bio-fluids and aqueous solutions at various pH levels and temperatures. Evaluations of toxicity using live animal models and test coupons of transient electronic materials provide some evidence of their biocompatibility, thereby suggesting potential for use in bioresorbable electronic implants., (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Successful integration of advanced semiconductor devices with biological systems will accelerate basic scientific discoveries and their translation into clinical technologies. In neuroscience generally, and in optogenetics in particular, the ability to insert light sources, detectors, sensors, and other components into precise locations of the deep brain yields versatile and important capabilities. Here, we introduce an injectable class of cellular-scale optoelectronics that offers such features, with examples of unmatched operational modes in optogenetics, including completely wireless and programmed complex behavioral control over freely moving animals. The ability of these ultrathin, mechanically compliant, biocompatible devices to afford minimally invasive operation in the soft tissues of the mammalian brain foreshadow applications in other organ systems, with potential for broad utility in biomedical science and engineering.

A remarkable feature of modern silicon electronics is its ability to remain physically invariant, almost indefinitely for practical purposes. Although this characteristic is a hallmark of applications of integrated circuits that exist today, there might be opportunities for systems that offer the opposite behavior, such as implantable devices that function for medically useful time frames but then completely disappear via resorption by the body. We report a set of materials, manufacturing schemes, device components, and theoretical design tools for a silicon-based complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology that has this type of transient behavior, together with integrated sensors, actuators, power supply systems, and wireless control strategies. An implantable transient device that acts as a programmable nonantibiotic bacteriocide provides a system-level example.

High quantum efficiencies and low current thresholds are important properties for all classes of semiconductor light emitting devices (LEDs), including nanoscale emitters based on single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). Among the various configurations that can be considered in SWNT LEDs, two terminal geometries with asymmetric metal contacts offer the simplest solution. In this paper, we study, experimentally and theoretically, the mechanisms of electroluminescence in devices that adopt this design and incorporate perfectly aligned, horizontal arrays of individual SWNTs. The results suggest that exciton mediated electron-hole recombination near the lower work-function contact is the dominant source of photon emission. High current thresholds for electroluminescence in these devices result from diffusion and quenching of excitons near the metal contact.

Notched islands on a thin elastomeric substrate serve as a platform for dual-junction GaInP/GaAs solar cells with microscale dimensions and ultrathin forms for stretchable photovoltaic modules. These designs allow for a high degree of stretchability and areal coverage, and they provide a natural form of strain-limiting behavior, helping to avoid destructive effects of extreme deformations., (Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

We report classes of electronic systems that achieve thicknesses, effective elastic moduli, bending stiffnesses, and areal mass densities matched to the epidermis. Unlike traditional wafer-based technologies, laminating such devices onto the skin leads to conformal contact and adequate adhesion based on van der Waals interactions alone, in a manner that is mechanically invisible to the user. We describe systems incorporating electrophysiological, temperature, and strain sensors, as well as transistors, light-emitting diodes, photodetectors, radio frequency inductors, capacitors, oscillators, and rectifying diodes. Solar cells and wireless coils provide options for power supply. We used this type of technology to measure electrical activity produced by the heart, brain, and skeletal muscles and show that the resulting data contain sufficient information for an unusual type of computer game controller.

Recent advances in mechanics and materials provide routes to integrated circuits that can offer the electrical properties of conventional, rigid wafer-based technologies but with the ability to be stretched, compressed, twisted, bent, and deformed into arbitrary shapes. Inorganic and organic electronic materials in microstructured and nanostructured forms, intimately integrated with elastomeric substrates, offer particularly attractive characteristics, with realistic pathways to sophisticated embodiments. Here, we review these strategies and describe applications of them in systems ranging from electronic eyeball cameras to deformable light-emitting displays. We conclude with some perspectives on routes to commercialization, new device opportunities, and remaining challenges for research.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have many exceptional electronic properties. Realizing the full potential of SWNTs in realistic electronic systems requires a scalable approach to device and circuit integration. We report the use of dense, perfectly aligned arrays of long, perfectly linear SWNTs as an effective thin-film semiconductor suitable for integration into transistors and other classes of electronic devices. The large number of SWNTs enable excellent device-level performance characteristics and good device-to-device uniformity, even with SWNTs that are electronically heterogeneous. Measurements on p- and n-channel transistors that involve as many as approximately 2,100 SWNTs reveal device-level mobilities and scaled transconductances approaching approximately 1,000 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and approximately 3,000 S m(-1), respectively, and with current outputs of up to approximately 1 A in devices that use interdigitated electrodes. PMOS and CMOS logic gates and mechanically flexible transistors on plastic provide examples of devices that can be formed with this approach. Collectively, these results may represent a route to large-scale integrated nanotube electronics.

Control over the composition, shape, spatial location and/or geometrical configuration of semiconductor nanostructures is important for nearly all applications of these materials. Here we report a mechanical strategy for creating certain classes of three-dimensional shapes in nanoribbons that would be difficult to generate in other ways. This approach involves the combined use of lithographically patterned surface chemistry to provide spatial control over adhesion sites, and elastic deformations of a supporting substrate to induce well-controlled local displacements. We show that precisely engineered buckling geometries can be created in nanoribbons of GaAs and Si in this manner and that these configurations can be described quantitatively with analytical models of the mechanics. As one application example, we show that some of these structures provide a route to electronics (and optoelectronics) with extremely high levels of stretchability (up to approximately 100%), compressibility (up to approximately 25%) and bendability (with curvature radius down to approximately 5 mm).

The ability to measure subtle changes in arterial pressure using devices mounted on the skin can be valuable for monitoring vital signs in emergency care, detecting the early onset of cardiovascular disease and continuously assessing health status. Conventional technologies are well suited for use in traditional clinical settings, but cannot be easily adapted for sustained use during daily activities. Here we introduce a conformal device that avoids these limitations. Ultrathin inorganic piezoelectric and semiconductor materials on elastomer substrates enable amplified, low hysteresis measurements of pressure on the skin, with high levels of sensitivity (~0.005 Pa) and fast response times (~0.1 ms). Experimental and theoretical studies reveal enhanced piezoelectric responses in lead zirconate titanate that follow from integration on soft supports as well as engineering behaviours of the associated devices. Calibrated measurements of pressure variations of blood flow in near-surface arteries demonstrate capabilities for measuring radial artery augmentation index and pulse pressure velocity.

Aligned arrays of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWNTs) represent ideal configurations for use of this class of material in high performance electronics. Development of means for removing the metallic SWNTs (m-SWNTs) in as-grown arrays represents an essential challenge. Here, we introduce a simple scheme that achieves this type of purification using direct, selective current injection through interdigitated electrodes into the m-SWNTs, to allow their complete removal using processes of thermocapillarity and dry etching. Experiments and numerical simulations establish the fundamental aspects that lead to selectivity in this process, thereby setting design rules for optimization. Single-step purification of arrays that include thousands of SWNTs demonstrates the effectiveness and simplicity of the procedures. The result is a practical route to large-area aligned arrays of purely s-SWNTs with low-cost experimental setups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a systematic experimental and theoretical analysis of performance variations in transistors that use aligned arrays of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) grown on quartz substrates. Theoretical models, calibrated using measurements on statistically relevant numbers of transistors that each incorporate an individual aligned semiconducting SWNT, enable separate examination of different contributors to measured variations in transistors that incorporate arrays of SWNTs. Using these models and associated experiments, we study the scaling of the statistics of key performance attributes in transistors with different numbers of incorporated SWNTs and reveal long-range spatial nonuniformities in the distributions of SWNT diameters as the main contributor to observed performance variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the electrical properties of thin-film transistors (TFTs) that use polymer-coated networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as the semiconductor with source and drain electrodes formed by high-resolution printing techniques. P-channel, n-channel, and ambipolar TFTs are demonstrated with bare SWNT networks, networks coated with polyethylene imine and with polyethylene oxide, respectively. Studies of the scaling of properties with channel length and tube density reveal important information about the operation of these devices. Complementary inverters made with n- and p-channel devices show gain larger than one and illustrate the potential use of these types of TFTs for complex logic circuits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soft contact lamination of source/drain electrodes supported by gold-coated high-resolution rubber stamps against organic semiconductor films can yield high-performance organic transistors. This article presents a detailed study of the electrical properties of these devices, with an emphasis on the nature of the laminated contacts with the p- and n-type semiconductors pentacene and copper hexadecafluorophthalocyanine, respectively. The analysis uses models developed for characterizing amorphous silicon transistors. The results demonstrate that the parasitic resistances related to the laminated contacts and their coupling to the transistor channel are considerably lower than those associated with conventional contacts formed by evaporation of gold electrodes directly on top of the organic semiconductors. These and other attractive features of transistors built by soft contact lamination suggest that they may be important for basic and applied studies in plastic electronics and nanoelectronic systems based on unconventional materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient and highly functional three-dimensional systems that are ubiquitous in biology suggest that similar design architectures could be useful in electronic and optoelectronic technologies, extending their levels of functionality beyond those achievable with traditional, planar two-dimensional platforms. Complex three-dimensional structures inspired by origami, kirigami have promise as routes for two-dimensional to three-dimensional transformation, but current examples lack the necessary combination of functional materials, mechanics designs, system-level architectures, and integration capabilities for practical devices with unique operational features. Here, we show that two-dimensional semiconductor/semi-metal materials can play critical roles in this context, through demonstrations of complex, mechanically assembled three-dimensional systems for light-imaging capabilities that can encompass measurements of the direction, intensity and angular divergence properties of incident light. Specifically, the mechanics of graphene and MoS2, together with strategically configured supporting polymer films, can yield arrays of photodetectors in distinct, engineered three-dimensional geometries, including octagonal prisms, octagonal prismoids, and hemispherical domes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approaches capable of creating 3D mesostructures in advanced materials (device-grade semiconductors, electroactive polymers, etc.) are of increasing interest in modern materials research. A versatile set of approaches exploits transformation of planar precursors into 3D architectures through the action of compressive forces associated with release of prestrain in a supporting elastomer substrate. Although a diverse set of 3D structures can be realized in nearly any class of material in this way, all previously reported demonstrations lack the ability to vary the degree of compression imparted to different regions of the 2D precursor, thus constraining the diversity of 3D geometries. This paper presents a set of ideas in materials and mechanics in which elastomeric substrates with engineered distributions of thickness yield desired strain distributions for targeted control over resultant 3D mesostructures geometries. This approach is compatible with a broad range of advanced functional materials from device-grade semiconductors to commercially available thin films, over length scales from tens of micrometers to several millimeters. A wide range of 3D structures can be produced in this way, some of which have direct relevance to applications in tunable optics and stretchable electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Established classes of high-performance electronics have driven advances in interventional biomedicine. However, the large size, planar geometry and stiff mechanical properties of standard conventional electronics employed in medical devices give rise to important integration challenges with soft biological tissue. Stretchable and flexible biointegrated electronics could improve treatment procedures across a broad range of applications, including cardiac, neural and endovascular therapies. Here we present novel mechanics, materials and integration strategies for this new class of bioelectronics onboard minimally invasive catheter based systems. Co-located arrays of sensors and actuators affixed to cardiac and angioplasty balloon catheters capture new sensory information during ablation procedures, offering physicians the ability to adjust placement and treatment intra-procedurally. New circuit topologies, enabled by stretchable electronics, also overcome long standing challenges associated with transmitting vast amounts of data through narrow catheter lumens, thus allowing for a large number of sensors to be multiplexed for mapping electrophysiological activity with high spatiotemporal resolution and with a minimal number of routing wires. We present representative examples that highlight the clinical significance of soft bio-integrated electronics, along with the mechanics and processes that enable this technology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Inorganic semiconductors such as silicon, gallium arsenide, and gallium nitride provide, by far, the most well-established routes to high performance electronics/optoelectronics. Although these materials are intrinsically rigid and brittle, when exploited in strategic geometrical designs guided by mechanics modeling, they can be combined with elastomeric supports to yield integrated devices that offer linear elastic responses to large strain (∼100%) deformations. The result is an electronics/optoelectronics technology that offers the performance of conventional wafer-based systems, but with the mechanics of a rubberband. This article summarizes the key enabling concepts in materials, mechanics, and assembly and illustrates them through representative applications, ranging from electronic “eyeball” cameras to advanced surgical devices and “epidermal” electronic monitoring systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to form integrated circuits on flexible sheets of plastic enables attributes (for example conformal and flexible formats and lightweight and shock resistant construction) in electronic devices that are difficult or impossible to achieve with technologies that use semiconductor wafers or glass plates as substrates. Organic small-molecule and polymer-based materials represent the most widely explored types of semiconductors for such flexible circuitry. Although these materials and those that use films or nanostructures of inorganics have promise for certain applications, existing demonstrations of them in circuits on plastic indicate modest performance characteristics that might restrict the application possibilities. Here we report implementations of a comparatively high-performance carbon-based semiconductor consisting of sub-monolayer, random networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes to yield small- to medium-scale integrated digital circuits, composed of up to nearly 100 transistors on plastic substrates. Transistors in these integrated circuits have excellent properties: mobilities as high as 80 cm2 V-1 s-1, subthreshold slopes as low as 140 m V dec-1, operating voltages less than 5 V together with deterministic control over the threshold voltages, on/off ratios as high as 105, switching speeds in the kilohertz range even for coarse (∼100-μm) device geometries, and good mechanical flexibility—all with levels of uniformity and reproducibility that enable high-yield fabrication of integrated circuits. Theoretical calculations, in contexts ranging from heterogeneous percolative transport through the networks to compact models for the transistors to circuit level simulations, provide quantitative and predictive understanding of these systems. Taken together, these results suggest that sub-monolayer films of single-walled carbon nanotubes are attractive materials for flexible integrated circuits, with many potential areas of application in consumer and other areas of electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter describes the physics and application of an approach to transfer printing that uses stamps with microstructures of relief embossed into their surfaces. Experimental measurement of velocity-dependent adhesive strength as a function of relief geometry reveals key scaling properties and provides a means for comparison to theoretical expectation. Formation of transistor devices that use nanoribbons of silicon transfer printed directly onto glass substrates without adhesive layers demonstrates the use of this type of approach for a high-performance (mobilities >325 cm2/V s and on/off ratios >105) single crystal silicon on glass technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this communication, a laminated, flexible, microfluidic-integrated, all CNT based liquid-gated transistor and biosensor are reported that comprises single walled CNTs for both the semiconducting channel as well as the contact electrodes. The proposed architecture eliminates the need for lithography, electrode definition processes, and also circumvents substrate surface compatibility issues. Real-time detection of 1 pM poly-L-lysine in a liquid-gated transistor comprising only two materials, single walled CNTs and polydimethoxysilane substrate with microfluidic channel, is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors report the fabrication and characterization of tetracene single-crystal field-effect transistors (FETs) utilizing an air or vacuum gap as the gate dielectric. The linear mobility of the device can be as high as 1.6 cm2/V s in air, with a subthreshold slope lower than 0.5 V nF/decade cm2. By changing the orientation of the same crystal on the air-gap substrate, surface charge transport along different crystallographic directions was measured. There is pronounced anisotropy in the mobility; temperature dependent measurements show the mobility is activated (in contrast to air-gap FETs based on rubrene) and that the activation energy is independent of transport direction. Gate electrode displacement current was also recorded for these devices, allowing accurate determination of the gate induced surface charge and the fraction of trapped charge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrodes based on printed networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are integrated with ultrathin layers of the organic semiconductor pentacene to produce bendable, transparent thin-film transistors on plastic substrates. The physical and structural properties of the SWNTs lead to the remarkably good electrical contacts with the pentacene. Optical transmittances of ∼70%, device mobilities >0.5 cm2 V-1 s-1, ON/OFF ratios >105 and tensile strains as large as 1.8% are achieved in devices of this type. These characteristics indicate promise for applications in power conserving flexible display systems and other devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro/nanowires of GaAs with integrated ohmic contacts have been prepared from bulk wafers by metal deposition and patterning, high-temperature annealing, and anisotropic chemical etching. These wires provide a unique type of material for high-performance devices that can be built directly on a wide range of unusual device substrates, such as plastic or paper. In particular, transfer printing organized arrays of these wires at low temperatures onto plastic substrates yield high-quality bendable metal-semiconductor field-effect transistors. Electrical and mechanical characterization of devices on poly(ethylene terephthalate) illustrates the level of performance that can be achieved. These results indicate promise for this approach to high-speed flexible circuits for emerging applications in consumer and military electronic systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a purely additive nanotransfer printing process that uses noncovalent surface forces to guide the transfer of thin metal films from low-energy surfaces of high-resolution stamps to a variety of substrates. Structures with dimensions as small as a few hundred nanometers, with edge roughness as small as 10 nm are demonstrated. Metal multilayer stacks patterned in this way have electrical resistances that are the same as those formed by evaporation and conventional lithography. Thin-film transistors that use source/drain electrodes printed directly onto thin films of the semiconducting polymer regioregular polythiophene and networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes exhibit device mobilities and on/off ratios that are comparable to or higher than those of devices fabricated using standard methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research establishes methods of controlled mechanical assembly as versatile routes to three-dimensional (3D) mesostructures from patterned 2D films, with demonstrated applicability to a broad range of materials (e.g., semiconductors, polymers, metals, and their combinations) and length scales (e.g., from sub-microscale to centimeter scale). Previously reported schemes use pre-stretched elastomeric substrates as assembly platforms to induce compressive buckling of 2D precursor structures, thereby enabling their controlled transformation into 3D architectures. Here, we introduce tensile buckling as a different, complementary strategy that bypasses the need for a pre-stretched platform, thereby simplifying the assembly process and opening routes to additional classes of 3D geometries unobtainable with compressive buckling. A few basic principles in mechanics serve as guidelines for the design of 2D precursor structures that achieve large out-of-plane motions and associated 3D transformations due to tensile buckling. Experimental and computational studies of nearly 20 examples demonstrate the utility of this approach in the assembly of complex 3D mesostructures with characteristic dimensions from micron to millimeter scales. The results also establish the use of nonlinear mechanics modeling as a mechanism for designing systems that yield desired 3D geometries. A strain sensor that offers visible readout and large detectable strain range through a collection of mechanically triggered electrical switches and LEDs serves as an application example. Mesostructures: Complex 3D structures pop-up from 2D films 2D surfaces can be pulled into 3D structures just like a pop-up book. The transformation of 2D structures into complex 3D structures can be achieved by exploiting pre-stretched pre-patterned films- this is known as the compressive buckling method. Upon release, the pre-stretched film forms a 3D structure whose shape is dependant on how these films were pre-patterned. The requirement of pre-stretching may add complexity to the manufacturing process. Yihui Zhang and colleagues present an alternative approach to form 3D structures which bypasses the requirement of pre-stretching. The researchers- who are from Tsinghua University and Northwestern University- demonstrate the controlled mechanical assembly of 3D mesostructures by stretching pre-patterned 2D films- known as the tensile buckling method. Notably, their approach opens up 3D structures previously unobtainable via compressive buckling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Review: 282 refs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on electronic paper displays. Production of electronic paper displays; Classes of semiconductors deposited on plastics at low temperatures; Combination of organic semiconductors with rubber-stamped circuit elements to produce large-area circuits for display.

We describe the use of semiconductor nanomaterials, advanced fabrication methods and unusual device designs for a class of electronics capable of integration onto the inner and outer surfaces of thin, elastomeric sheets in closed-tube geometries, specially formed for mounting on the fingertips. Multifunctional systems of this type allow electrotactile stimulation with electrode arrays multiplexed using silicon nanomembrane (Si NM) diodes, high-sensitivity strain monitoring with Si NM gauges, and tactile sensing with elastomeric capacitors. Analytical calculations and finite element modeling of the mechanics quantitatively capture the key behaviors during fabrication/assembly, mounting and use. The results provide design guidelines that highlight the importance of the NM geometry in achieving the required mechanical properties. This type of technology could be used in applications ranging from human–machine interfaces to ‘instrumented’ surgical gloves and many others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an approach for using conventional photoresist materials to pattern structures with dimensions as small as 50 nm. This method, known as near field phase shift lithography (NFPSL), is an experimentally simple approach to nanofabrication that relies on ultraviolet exposure of a layer of resist while it is in conformal, atomic scale contact with such an elastomeric phase mask. This paper presents some representative structures produced with this method; it illustrates an example of its use in patterning the critical dimensions of organic transistors; and it outlines some new modeling results of the optics associated with this technique. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are of significant interest in the electronic materials research community due to their excellent electrical properties and many promising applications. However, SWNTs grow as mixture of both metallic and semiconducting tubes and this heterogeneity frustrates their practical use in high performance electronics. Recently developed purification techniques based on nanoscale thermocapillary flow of thin film overcoats enables complete elimination of metallic SWNTs from as-grown arrays. We studied the thermocapillary flow to purify SWNTs analytically and established a simple scaling law for the film thickness profile in terms of the geometry (e.g., film thickness), material (e.g., thermal conductivity and viscosity), and loading (e.g., power density) parameters. The results show that the normalized thickness profile only depends on one nondimensional parameter: the normalized power density. These findings may serve as useful design guidelines for process optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two dimensional (2D) semiconductorshave attracted attention fora range of electronic applications, such as transparent, flexiblefield effect transistors and sensors owing to their good optical transparencyand mechanical flexibility. Efforts to exploit 2D semiconductors inelectronics are hampered, however, by the lack of efficient methodsfor their synthesis at levels of quality, uniformity, and reliabilityneeded for practical applications. Here, as an alternative 2D semiconductor,we study single crystal Si nanomembranes (NMs), formed in large areasheets with precisely defined thicknesses ranging from 1.4 to 10 nm.These Si NMs exhibit electronic properties of two-dimensional quantumwells and offer exceptionally high optical transparency and low flexuralrigidity. Deterministic assembly techniques allow integration of thesematerials into unusual device architectures, including field effecttransistors with total thicknesses of less than 12 nm, for potentialuse in transparent, flexible, and stretchable forms of electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed methods for creating microscale inorganic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and for assembling and interconnecting them into unusual display and lighting systems. The LEDs use specialized epitaxial semiconductor layers that allow delineation and release of large collections of ultrathin devices. Diverse shapes are possible, with dimensions from micrometers to millimeters, in either flat or "wavy" configurations. Printing-based assembly methods can deposit these devices on substrates of glass, plastic, or rubber, in arbitrary spatial layouts and over areas that can be much larger than those of the growth wafer. The thin geometries of these LEDs enable them to be interconnected by conventional planar processing techniques. Displays, lighting elements, and related systems formed in this manner can offer interesting mechanical and optical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed a simple approach to combine broad classes of dissimilar materials into heterogeneously integrated electronic systems with two- or three-dimensional layouts. The process begins with the synthesis of different semiconductor nanomaterials, such as single-walled carbon nanotubes and single-crystal micro- and nanoscale wires and ribbons of gallium nitride, silicon, and gallium arsenide on separate substrates. Repeated application of an additive, transfer printing process that uses soft stamps with these substrates as donors, followed by device and interconnect formation, yields high-performance heterogeneously integrated electronics that incorporate any combination of semiconductor nanomaterials on rigid or flexible device substrates. This versatile methodology can produce a wide range of unusual electronic systems that would be impossible to achieve with other techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have produced a stretchable form of silicon that consists of submicrometer single-crystal elements structured into shapes with microscale, periodic, wavelike geometries. When supported by an elastomeric substrate, this "wavy" silicon can be reversibly stretched and compressed to large levels of strain without damaging the silicon. The amplitudes and periods of the waves change to accommodate these deformations, thereby avoiding substantial strains in the silicon itself. Dielectrics, patterns of dopants, electrodes, and other elements directly integrated with the silicon yield fully formed, high-performance "wavy" metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors, p-n diodes, and other devices for electronic circuits that can be stretched or compressed to similarly large levels of strain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a method to fabricate high-performance field-effect transistors on the surface of freestanding organic single crystals. The transistors are constructed by laminating a monolithic elastomeric transistor stamp against the surface of a crystal. This method, which eliminates exposure of the fragile organic surface to the hazards of conventional processing, enables fabrication of rubrene transistors with charge carrier mobilities as high as ∼15 cm[sup2]/V-s and subthreshold slopes as low as 2 nF-V/decade-cm[sup2]. Multiple relamination of the transistor stamp against the same crystal does not affect the transistor characteristics; we exploit this reversibility to reveal anisotropic charge transport at the basal plane of rubrene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article cites a research study focusing on the organic nanodielectrics for low voltage carbon nanotube thin film transistors and complementary logic gates. Aligned arrays and random networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) represent thin film material types that are attractive as conducting/semiconducting elements of flexible electronic circuits. The large carrier mobilities and mechanical, chemical, and electrical robustness of individual SWNTs imbue these films with remarkably good properties. Thin liquid polymer electrolyte films provide gates and gate dielectrics that have some of these characteristics and were recently used with SWNTs to achieve thin film transistors with good properties.