SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a method of patterning chemically sensitive organic electronic materials using photolithography and other standard cleanroom processes. The technology is based on the development of a fluorous based photoresist. The process to be developed will not damage organic semiconductors, which are destroyed by most organic solvents and water. The technology will solve many of the problems that plague the organic electronics industry, particularly related to OLED manufacturing. The technology has the potential to enable large scale manufacturing of OLED displays using existing LCD equipment, dramatically lower the cost and improving yields by using proven techniques

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop a photoresist system that is compatible with a much wider range of materials than traditional photoresists, allowing for the patterning of advanced semiconducting polymers and small molecules on existing photolithographic equipment. Through Phase I project, Orthogonal has improved its fluorinated photoresist system by making two new materials with lower manufacturing cost and enhanced performance. In this Phase II project, the patterning of the widely used conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS) and similar acidic materials will be studied. Multiple approaches will be taken to continuously improve the performance of the new photoresist materials. The scalability of one or both photoresist materials to large quantities will be investigated by addressing the major issues that may be challenging to the scale-up, including dealing with heat generation and finding a suitable initiator.The broader/commercial impacts of this project will be the potential to enable the large-scale manufacturing of organic electronic devices by leveraging the existing photolithographic infrastructure currently used in the industry. The availability of the new photoresist materials in large quantities and consistent quality will help meet the performance and volume demands of organic electronic industry, which is expected to grow rapidly once a scalable and high-yield manufacturing technique is available.