Forum for Science, Industry and Business

In best circles: First integrated circuit from self-assembled polymer

In the self-assembly process, the semiconducting polymer arranges itself into an ordered monolayer in a transistor. The transistors are binary switches used for logic operation in digital circuits and are the building blocks of an integrated circuit. The radical concept of self-assembled electronics has been around since 1976. For decades, the challenge has been to form a self-assembled monolayer of a semiconducting polymer in a transistor.

The scientists made an IC from a monolayer of a semiconducting polymer.

Copyright: MPI for Polymer Research

“The idea is that all components of a transistor come together and arrange themselves in a hierarchical order”, said Kamal Asadi, leader of the Humboldt research group at the MPI for Polymer Research. The monolayer is highly ordered and is able to conduct electric charge carriers well. The research team has used solution of a polymer. By dipping the transistor substrate in the solution in a controlled manner, the researchers could grow and produce a complete polymeric monolayer.

Scientific breakthrough

To achieve their scientific breakthrough, the scientists have intentionally dissolved the semiconducting polymer in an organic solvent that could not fully dissolve the polymer. In this way, the scientists have made the first self-assembled monolayer polymer field-effect transistor (PoM-FET). Nevertheless, one PoM-FET does not make a functional integrated circuit.

Therefore, the research team has integrated hundreds of PoM-FETs and has operated them at the same time to demonstrate a 15-bit code generator, an integrated circuit that converts a voltage into a digital code. The landmark scientific result has applications in flexible electronics and fast response sensors.

International research collaboration

The scientific work was a collaboration of several international research groups worldwide. The semiconducting polymer was synthesized by the group of Professor He Yan at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong. The polymeric monolayers were analyzed by the group of Professor Harald Ade at the North Carolina State University in USA, and by the group of Professor Wojtek Pisula at the Lodz University of Technology, Poland. The PoM-FETs and the integrated circuits were fabricated at the MPI for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany. Post-doctoral researcher Mengmeng Li conducted the research work that was led by Kamal Asadi together with Wojtek Pisula.

About the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research

The Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) ranks among the globally leading research centers in the field of polymer research since its foundation in 1984. The focus on soft materials and macromolecular materials has resulted in the worldwide unique position of the MPI-P and its research focus. Fundamental polymers research on both production and characterization as well as analysis of physical and chemical properties are conducted by scientific collaborators from all over the world. Presently over 500 people are working at the MPI-P, the vast majority of whom are engaged in scientific research.

Weitere Informationen:

http://www.mpip-mainz.mpg.de/home/en
https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/home.html

Kerstin Felix | Max-Planck-Institut für Polymerforschung

Im Focus: High-pressure scientists in Bayreuth discover promising material for information technology

Researchers at the University of Bayreuth have discovered an unusual material: When cooled down to two degrees Celsius, its crystal structure and electronic properties change abruptly and significantly. In this new state, the distances between iron atoms can be tailored with the help of light beams. This opens up intriguing possibilities for application in the field of information technology. The scientists have presented their discovery in the journal "Angewandte Chemie - International Edition". The new findings are the result of close cooperation with partnering facilities in Augsburg, Dresden, Hamburg, and Moscow.

The material is an unusual form of iron oxide with the formula Fe₅O₆. The researchers produced it at a pressure of 15 gigapascals in a high-pressure laboratory...

Im Focus: From China to the South Pole: Joining forces to solve the neutrino mass puzzle

Study by Mainz physicists indicates that the next generation of neutrino experiments may well find the answer to one of the most pressing issues in neutrino physics

Among the most exciting challenges in modern physics is the identification of the neutrino mass ordering. Physicists from the Cluster of Excellence PRISMA+ at...

Im Focus: Therapies without drugs

Fraunhofer researchers are investigating the potential of microimplants to stimulate nerve cells and treat chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes, or Parkinson’s disease. Find out what makes this form of treatment so appealing and which challenges the researchers still have to master.

A study by the Robert Koch Institute has found that one in four women will suffer from weak bladders at some point in their lives. Treatments of this condition...

Im Focus: A step towards controlling spin-dependent petahertz electronics by material defects

The operational speed of semiconductors in various electronic and optoelectronic devices is limited to several gigahertz (a billion oscillations per second). This constrains the upper limit of the operational speed of computing. Now researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter in Hamburg, Germany, and the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay have explained how these processes can be sped up through the use of light waves and defected solid materials.

Light waves perform several hundred trillion oscillations per second. Hence, it is natural to envision employing light oscillations to drive the electronic...

Im Focus: Freiburg researcher investigate the origins of surface texture

Most natural and artificial surfaces are rough: metals and even glasses that appear smooth to the naked eye can look like jagged mountain ranges under the microscope. There is currently no uniform theory about the origin of this roughness despite it being observed on all scales, from the atomic to the tectonic. Scientists suspect that the rough surface is formed by irreversible plastic deformation that occurs in many processes of mechanical machining of components such as milling.

Prof. Dr. Lars Pastewka from the Simulation group at the Department of Microsystems Engineering at the University of Freiburg and his team have simulated such...