FLUENCE (Fluid-Enhanced Crystal Engineering) Process Results in 10 Times More Efficient Organic Electronics

A single-crystal organic semiconductor array that is 1mm by 20mm. The neatly-aligned blue strips are what provide greater electric charge mobility. The Stanford logo shown here is the same size as a dime.

A new printing process called FLUENCE (Fluid-Enhanced Crystal Engineering) can generate organic electronic materials that are ten times more conductive than those currently available.

Organic electronics are materials that utilize carbon-based polymers and molecules to build electronic conductors and resistors. Instead of using inorganic materials such as copper and silicon, organic electronics are produced by printing out the material on inexpensive polymeric substrates like polyethylene terephtalate (PET) or polycarbonate (PC) that are cheaper than conventional inorganic components.

Ink jet printers or coating equipment (like those used to produce photographic film) can also be used to print out electronic components one on top of another to produce smaller more compact semiconductors.

Organic electronic products are thin, lightweight, and flexible. These properties have been proven effective in the modern application of electronic devices and gadgets such as touch sensors, display screens, and in solar cells. In solar cells, solar sheeting that are thin and translucent (similar to a plastic sheet) are products of organic electronics. Display screens such as OLED (Organic LED)screens are now used widely in the smartphone and tablet market.