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Abstract
Issue Title: Special Section: 2015 Electronic Materials Conference. Guest Editors: Joshua Caldwell, Joshua Zide, Suzanne Mohney, Jamie Phillips, F. Shadi Shahedipour-Sandvik, Nadeem Mahadik, Fareed Qhalid, Suchi Guha, Rachel Goldman, Jian Xu, Angel Yanguas-Gil, Ganesh Balakrishnan
An electrohydrodynamic (EHD) patterning method was utilized to obtain high-resolution line patterns in a low electric field regime without an additional mechanical drawing process. Molecular weight and weight percent of a polymer were selected as key parameters to reduce the voltage. EHD patterning was performed using polyethylene oxide (PEO) solutions. The threshold voltages (V ^sub th^) to initiate jet ejection are almost the same for all solutions. A method verified in this study, reducing the driving voltage (V ^sub d^) just after the initiation of the jet at the threshold voltage, can make a very thin, continuous jet, while increasing molecular weight and weight percent were enabled to further reduce the input voltage. As the voltage reduction ratio (V ^sub d^/V ^sub th^) is decreased, the jet behaves like a solid rather than a liquid due to its fast solidification. The line width of the resultant line pattern could be tuned from 50 nm to 10 [mu]m depending on the substrate moving speed. Contour maps were also developed that show the pattern mode variation as a function of the voltage reduction ratio and key parameters. The results show that well-defined PEO line and grid patterns can be fabricated via the proposed EHD direct patterning under appropriate conditions.