Electronic devices employing aligned organic polymers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016226010-A1
Application number	US-201514725810-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 29, 2015
Priority date	May 7, 2012
Publication date	Aug 4, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The devices can be fabricated by a method that permits active polymer chains to be polymerized on the surface of an electrode such that the active polymer chains are aligned with one another. The active polymer chains can also be covalently linked to a second electrode so the active polymer chains are located in an active layer of the device. The polymerization method can be paused and resumed at any point in the polymerization so nanoparticles can be added into the active layer. Additionally, the polymerization method allows that active polymer chains to be polymerized so they include junctions such as p-n junctions and Schottky junctions.

First claim

1 . A method of forming an electronics device, comprising:
polymerizing a polymer on an electrode so as to form chains of the polymer on the electrode; pausing the polymerization after the polymerization has been started; applying a layer of nanoparticles to the portion of the polymer chains that were formed before the polymerization was paused; and resuming the polymerization after applying the nanoparticles.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymerization is resumed such that the polymer chains extend through interstices between the nanoparticles.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the nanoparticles have an average diameter greater than 5 nm.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a first monomer is used in the polymerization of the polymer before the polymerization is paused and a second monomer is used in the polymerization of the polymer after the polymerization is resumed, the first polymer being different from the second polymer.

5 . A method of forming an electronics device, comprising:
providing an electrode; and fabricating block copolymer chains on a surface of the electrode such that the chains are aligned with one another,
the block copolymer chains each including a first block of a first organic polymer; and
the block copolymer chains each including a second block of a second organic polymer.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the first organic polymer is a semiconducting organic polymer that acts as an electron acceptor and the second organic polymer is a semiconducting organic polymer that acts as an electron donor.

7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein fabricating the block copolymer chains on the surface of the electrode includes polymerizing the first block on the electrode followed by polymerizing the second block on the electrode.

8 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
bonding the block copolymer chains to a second electrode such that the block copolymer chains are between the electrode and the second electrode.

Assignees

• California Inst Of Techn

Inventors

• Weitekamp Raymond

Classifications

• H10K30/50

  Photovoltaic [PV] devices · CPC title

• H10K30/451

  comprising a metal-semiconductor-metal [m-s-m] structure · CPC title

• H10K85/151 Primary

  Copolymers · CPC title

• H01L51/441

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L51/0015

  Electricity · mapped topic