A method to produce microelectronic devices on textile and paper substrates

摘要

High electrical conductance coatings of poly(3, 4 -ethylenedioxythiophene) were in situ synthetized on textile substrates by the vapor phase polymerization method, using water as solvent. The method uses oxidant aqueous solutions with specific concentrations of FeCl_36H_2O and is considerably more economically and ecologically sustainable than traditional wet methods. The method was optimized to maximize the electrical conductance of the coatings, and the effect of the concentration of the oxidant solutions on the electrical and mechanical characteristics of the samples was investigated and correlated to scanning electron microscopy imaging analysis. A strong decrease of electrical resistance with the increase of the concentration of the oxidant was obtained, characterized by a minimum value of sheet resistivity, R_(sq), of 25 Ohm/sq. This value could be further decreased to 5 Ohm/sq by the application of multiple polymerization layers and was a function of the conjugated polymer content. The method is suitable to produce textile electrodes and interconnects for smart textile applications and microelectronic devices on paper and plastic substrates.