High Index of Refraction Materials for Printed Applications

ABSTRACT: Modern electrical and opto-electronic devices are predicated on controlled deposition and patterning of material layers (e.g. semiconductor, conductor, and dielectrics). Vacuum thin film and other evaporative methods, in combination with microlithography, have long dominated this industrial capacity, particularly as feature critical dimensions were driven into the nanoscale. However, lithographic methods that have pioneered much of the electronic age are relegated to rigid planar substrates in order to impart the necessary control over crystallinity and small feature dimension in high throughput manufacturing. A host of new integrated optics technologies stand to benefit from the ability to transform the successes of vacuum thin film deposition and lithographic patterning into large area, conformable electronic and optoelectronic devices. To enable high-throughput, low- and stable cost manufacturing of integrated and active optical materials and devices, Nanohmics, Inc., an early-stage technology development company (Austin, TX), working in collaboration proposes to develop high-index material inks and associated methods for in-line, direct-write printing into functional material layers on large-area, continuous webs. BENEFIT: Advancements in nanomaterial production have enabled a number of new device capabilities, particularly metal nanoparticles, where the bulk annealing from colloidal metal powder/ink precursors readily results in contiguous conductive films. The ability to create analogous structures from nanopowders that are functionally semiconducting, or derive value from the high-index attribute, would enable a number of new integrated optics devices that could be employed onto large-area flexible substrates and more readily combined with emerging high speed printed electronics applications.