Large-scale metal nanoelectrode arrays based on printed nanowire lithography for nanowire complementary inverters

Abstract

Nanowire (NW) complementary inverters based on NW channels and NW electrodes are a promising core logic unit of future sub-miniature, high density and textile-type configured electronic circuits. However, existing approaches based on short NWs (<150 mu m) or non-woven nanofibers cannot provide precisely-coordinated NW inverters due to the difficulty in the position and alignment control of each NW. In particular, the large-scale fabrication of highly-aligned metal nanoelectrode (NE) arrays with low resistivity is a challenging issue. Here, we developed large-scale-aligned AgNE arrays with very low resistivity by using printed NW lithography, and then demonstrated NW complementary inverters by combining with direct-printed organic semiconducting NWs. The width of the AgNEs was controlled from 250 to 1000 nm; their resistivity was 2.6 mu Omega cm which is quite comparable with that of Ag films (1.6 mu Omega cm). We expect that this approach will facilitate advances in the large-scale fabrication of nanoelectronics which will be compatible with printed electronics.