Laser-induced forward transfer of multi-layered structures for OTFT applications

•bis(2-phenylethynyl) end-substituted terthiophene (diPhAc-3T) films are synthesized.•diPhAc-3T semiconductor, parylene-C dielectric and Ag gate form film transistors.•Laser-based technology is used to transfer/print such multilayered structures.•The structure and electrical properties of the transistors are discussed. We report on the one-step laser printing of multi-layered organic-based field effect transistors, using thin films of bis(2-phenylethynyl) end-substituted terthiophene (diPhAc-3T) as semiconductor, parylene-C (Py-C) as dielectric and silver (Ag) as gate electrode, respectively. The laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) process was used to transfer pixels from donor to receiver substrates. The latter included pre-designed source and drain gold electrodes to form complete organic thin films transistors (OTFTs). Such laser-induced forward transfer used a single 50ps duration pulse delivered by a Nd:YAG laser operating at 355nm to print transistor pixel arrays under ambient temperature. The pixels (350μm sized-squares, and 700±40nm in thickness), fabricated in the top gate configuration, were investigated for their current–voltage characteristics immediately after printing. Electrical characterization demonstrated that the laser printed transistor is fully functional with hole mobilities of 4×10−4cm2/Vs, a threshold voltage Vt near −10V, Ion/Ioff ratio near to 104–105 and the sub-threshold slope (S) of 14–18V/decade. The efficient cohesion between the three different layers composing the pixels offers an exceptionally high strength to laser printing, while maintaining the electrical properties.