Lithographic Micropatterning of Polythiophene Thin-Films

Date of Award

12-1991

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Abstract

Several semiconductor processing procedures that could be used to micropattern polythiophene thin-films were investigated. Using standard semiconductor lithographic processing procedures as a guide to what environments the polythiophene would be exposed to, a series of tests duplicating specific processing steps were devised. These tests determined that polythiophene could withstand heating on a hot plate to 150 C for 5 minutes, heating in a convection oven to 200 C for 30 minutes, and to 100 C for 1 hour without changing thin film thickness, index of refraction, surface morphology, or absorbance. Of the solvents polythiophene was exposed to, only isopropyl alcohol caused no film deformation. A reactive ion etching process using a low temperature silicate passivating and masking layer over the polythiophene is recommended for processing polythiophene. Using this procedure highly anisotropic structures were achieved using a 5 minute reactive ion etch with a chamber pressure of 50 mtorr, plasma power of 100 watts, and an oxygen flow rate of 50 standard cubic centimeters per minute.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GE-ENG-91D-32

DTIC Accession Number

ADA243819

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