02.01.16
SmartKem reported it has set a new world record in digital circuit performance with tru-FLEX, its solution processed organic semiconductor.
Integrated circuits based on organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) have been in development for more than 15 years with development scientists working on both the speed and complexity of integrated circuits for a range of electronics applications. However, one of the main barriers to the growth of printed electronic circuits was the ability to manufacture circuits using high-throughput, solution-coating techniques with the necessary semiconductor performance to allow fast logic circuits to be realized in standard digital circuits such as ring oscillators.
SmartKem has just reported the fabrication of a truFLEX- based all-organic 5-stage OTFT ring oscillator using solution coating that operates with an oscillation frequency above 500 kHz and stage delay of less than 200 ns.
This is the highest frequency reported to date for a unipolar ring oscillator fabricated using a solution processed organic semiconductor and gate dielectric. It is also expected that with trivial optimisation of the circuit design, oscillator frequencies well above 1MHz can be easily attained.
With the emergence of the Internet of Things, one market requirement that has not been met is for low cost, thin, flexible and disposable RFID and NFC tags for the transmission of data from devices, sensors or objects. To achieve the necessary bit rate of 53kbits/s for a RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) or NFC (Near Field Communication) device operating at the standardized frequency of 13.6MHz, a stage gate delay in the logic of less than 400ns is needed. SmartKems ring oscillator operates well below this requirement at 200ns, making it a contender as a platform technology for fully printed, low cost, flexible electronics.
A more immediate and pressing application is as a TFT backplane platform for the manufacture of conformal LCD and flexible AMOLED displays. Narrow bezels can now be achieved by the use of “integrated gate drivers” fabricated on the display backplane.
“This emphasizes the enabling nature of materials innovation in driving forward the potential of flexible electronics, not just for application to smart, flexible electronics for the Internet of Things for instance, but also the unique position it holds in enabling the growth of the flexible display industry,” said Steve Kelly, CEO and founder of SmartKem.
SmartKem’s result has just been published in the January 2016 online edition of Advanced Electronic Materials.
Integrated circuits based on organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) have been in development for more than 15 years with development scientists working on both the speed and complexity of integrated circuits for a range of electronics applications. However, one of the main barriers to the growth of printed electronic circuits was the ability to manufacture circuits using high-throughput, solution-coating techniques with the necessary semiconductor performance to allow fast logic circuits to be realized in standard digital circuits such as ring oscillators.
SmartKem has just reported the fabrication of a truFLEX- based all-organic 5-stage OTFT ring oscillator using solution coating that operates with an oscillation frequency above 500 kHz and stage delay of less than 200 ns.
This is the highest frequency reported to date for a unipolar ring oscillator fabricated using a solution processed organic semiconductor and gate dielectric. It is also expected that with trivial optimisation of the circuit design, oscillator frequencies well above 1MHz can be easily attained.
With the emergence of the Internet of Things, one market requirement that has not been met is for low cost, thin, flexible and disposable RFID and NFC tags for the transmission of data from devices, sensors or objects. To achieve the necessary bit rate of 53kbits/s for a RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) or NFC (Near Field Communication) device operating at the standardized frequency of 13.6MHz, a stage gate delay in the logic of less than 400ns is needed. SmartKems ring oscillator operates well below this requirement at 200ns, making it a contender as a platform technology for fully printed, low cost, flexible electronics.
A more immediate and pressing application is as a TFT backplane platform for the manufacture of conformal LCD and flexible AMOLED displays. Narrow bezels can now be achieved by the use of “integrated gate drivers” fabricated on the display backplane.
“This emphasizes the enabling nature of materials innovation in driving forward the potential of flexible electronics, not just for application to smart, flexible electronics for the Internet of Things for instance, but also the unique position it holds in enabling the growth of the flexible display industry,” said Steve Kelly, CEO and founder of SmartKem.
SmartKem’s result has just been published in the January 2016 online edition of Advanced Electronic Materials.