Reviewed by Danielle Ellis, B.Sc.Sep 25 2024
A research team from Seoul National University and the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology developed a “printing-based selective metal film deposition technique” that makes it easy and quick to fabricate high-performance soft electronic devices and circuits in various forms. The research findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.
Vapor deposition produces metal thin films with superior surface smoothness and electrical conductivity, which makes them indispensable parts of electronic circuits and devices.
However, shaping these metal thin films into the necessary shapes usually calls for the employment of stiff masks, like shadow masks or photomasks, which restricts the range of procedures that can be performed on different types of surfaces and makes pattern modification challenging.
This technique enables simultaneous vapor deposition and patterning without the need for a separate mask by using polymer patterns to prevent metal vapor from condensing. This method makes it possible to create patterns with line lengths ranging from μm to mm on a large scale.
The research team claims that metal thin film patterns may now be readily created on multi-curvature or elastic substrates, something that was previously unfeasible with conventional procedures due to the polymer pattern's exceptional stretchability and mechanical resilience.
Throughout the research, scientists demonstrated next-generation free-form electronic devices and circuits using metal thin films in a variety of configurations, such as stretchy LED arrays, curvilinear OLEDs (Organic Light-Emitting Diodes), and wireless power transmission.
This study not only developed a technology for easily custom-fabricating high-performance metal thin film patterns based on vapor deposition but also set the stage for maximizing the utility of metal thin films in the field of soft electronics by applying this technology to curved and stretchable systems.
Yongtaek Hong, Professor, Seoul National University
Hong added, “In the future, this selective metal thin film deposition technology is expected to be directly applied to forming porous transparent structures in the top common electrode of OLED panels, a key element for under-display camera and under-display face recognition sensor technologies that require various form factors.”
The co-first authors of the research, Drs. Sujin Jeong and Hyungsoo Yoon, are currently employed at Samsung Display Research Center, where they are concentrating on the creation of potential next-generation displays, such as stretchy displays. The Ministry of Science and ICT funded the research.
Journal Reference:
Jeong, S., et al. (2024) Printable, stretchable metal-vapor-desorption layers for high-fidelity patterning in soft, freeform electronics. Nature Communications. doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51585-2.