Inkjet printing of single-walled carbon nanotube thin-film transistors patterned by surface modification

In this paper, we report a method for the inkjet printing of single-walled carbon nanotube thin-film transistors (SWCNT TFTs). Although inkjet technology is a powerful tool for the fabrication of SWCNT TFTs, the diameter of the ink droplets (100 mu m) strictly limits the device size. Here, we surmount this limitation by combining inkjet technology and site-selective deposition based on the patterning of self-assembled monolayers. We have synthesized patterned SWCNT films with feature widths less than 100 mu m using this site-selective surface modification method, thus improving the performance limit of SWCNT printed electronics. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3657502]