The National Physical Laboratory
(NPL), the UK's National Measurement Institute, is developing equipment
and techniques to support the growing use of organic electronics. The market
for organic, or plastic, electronics is expected to be worth £15 billion
by 2015 (IDTechEx), and NPL is seeking to ensure the infrastructure is in place
to allow businesses to achieve commercial success in this emerging area.
The technology has huge potential in such areas as solar energy, smart packaging,
medical diagnostics, displays and lighting, and testing and characterisation
of organic electronic devices is becoming increasingly important.
NPL's organic electronics team aims to address these by understanding the fundamental
science of organic electronics. Specifically, the team is focusing on two main
areas - photovoltaics and printing deposition of organic materials.
To date, the group has:
- Set-up an ultra-high vacuum atomic force microscopy system, enabling precise
topographic and electrical measurements on organic films.
- Developed a strategic collaboration with Imperial College London, including
a joint postdoctoral research fellow in Excitonic Photovoltaics. X-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy has revealed the vertical composition profile of blended organic
semiconductor thin-films.
- Determined the structure of organic semiconductor layers for thin-film transistors
using molecular resolution atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction.
Developed a wettability model based on chemical mapping, which effectively
describes experimental surface energy data, as determined by micro-contact angle
measurement of printing substrates.
The next phase of the project is looking to set up a specialized facility for
use in fabricating thin-films and devices; support solar cell efficiency improvements
through spatial mapping of the work function of photovoltaic blends using imaging
ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy; and develop photoconductive atomic force
microscopy methods for photocurrent response on the nanoscale to further support
efficiency gains in solar cell technology.
NPL's metrology expertise has played a role in several Technology Strategy
Board-backed projects over the past few years, working with partners from industry
and academia.
"In all these projects, our role has been to assist in the accurate measurement
and characterization of electronic and chemical properties at the sub-micron
level, and often this has included devising novel techniques for making such
measurements," said Craig Murphy, project lead.
NPL is also becoming involved in supporting the development of standards for
measurement methods related to organic electronics.
Posted September 28th, 2009
