UC Berkeley

The structure and chemistry of nanoparticles and polymers are interesting for applications in electronics and sensors. However, because they are outside of the standard material set typically used for these applications, widespread use of these materials has not yet been realized. This is due in part to the limited ability of traditional manufacturing processes to adapt to these unique materials. As a result, several alternative manufacturing methods have been developed, including nanoimprint lithography, gravure printing, inkjet printing, and screen printing, among many others. However, these current processes are not able to simultaneously produce patterns with high resolution and high dimensional fidelity, rapidly, over large areas, and in a completely additive manner.

In this work, high-resolution patterns of nanoparticles and polymers are created on a variety of substrates in a completely additive manner using a template-based microfluidic process. Permeation of solvent through a vapor-permeable polymer template is used to both drive the flow of ink and concentrate the solute inside of template features. This fluidic process is shown to allow gradual packing of solute inside the template features, enabling creation of three-dimensional features with low defect densities. Additionally, because the mechanical properties of the template material are found to significantly impact patterning resolution and fidelity, and a process for creating rigid, vapor permeable templates from poly(4-methyl-2-pentyne) is developed. These templates are used for creating patterning of nanoparticles and polymers with a minimum line width of smaller than 350 nm. The process is then applied to the creation of low temperature metallization for polymer electronics using metallic nanoparticles and a highly-sensitive ultraviolet light sensor from zinc oxide nanoparticles.