Materials

Dr. Moore from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has developed a method for enhancing the thermal stability of cyclic poly(phthalaldehyde) (“cPPA”). cPPA is a transient material which is capable of depolymerizing in response to a stimulus (e.g., acid, heat). Until now, the low degradation temperature of cPPA has precluded thermal processing of the material. Additionally, cPPA’s unpredictable stability and thermal degradation behavior prevented standardization. The inventors identified a method for stabilizing cPPA to enable thermal processing of the material. Thermal processing allows more complex architectures to be fabricated from cPPA, these architectures can then undergo triggered depolymerization to break down the material. Potential applications for this material include disappearing drones and lithography.

This portfolio includes carbon nanotube growth and processing methods relevant to nanotube manufacturing. 

Patterned Catalyst Techniques for Aligned Single-walled Carbon Nanotube Growth

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) feature exceptional electric properties (conductivity and semi-conductivity) that make them attractive for nano-electronics, optics, material applications and more. This SWNT growth technology yields a dense structure without degraded alignment by eliminating undesired interactions between the SWNT and catalysts on the growth surface. More specifically, a patterned catalyst is used to provide a template to direct SWNT growth, resulting in perfectly aligned high coverage SWNTS.

Benefits

• Higher density
• Large scale
• Higher quality 

Applications

• Patterned catalyst techniques are applicable for standard electronic devices that use thin film semiconductors, such as field effect transistors (FETs), sensors, thin-film transistors (TFTs). These devices can benefit from ability to deposit SWNT onto plastics and other unusual device substrates: steerable antenna arrays, flexible displays, etc.

Medium Scale Carbon Nanotube Thin Film Integrated Circuits on Flexible Plastic Substrates

This technology improves the performance and consistency of integrated circuits featuring semi-conductive carbon nanotube (CNT) transistors. Specifically, metallic conductive pathways in random nanotube networks are reduced using a medium scale carbon nanotube thin film. This process reduces these pathways by cutting fine lines into the carbon nanotube network while preserving its semiconducting properties.

Benefits

• Reduces purely metallic conductive pathways in a carbon nanotube network used to construct electronic circuits.
• Vastly improves carbon nanotube device consistency in production (yield).

Applications

• Primary application is integrated circuits for flexible substrate materials.

Using Nanoscale Thermocapillary Flows to Create Arrays of Purely Semiconducting Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

This carbon nanotube (CNT) purification technology facilitates scalable, damage-free separation of arrayed metallic and semi-conductive CNTs. Resulting CNT arrays may be large and feature high Ion/Ioff ratios, allowing for less power loss while powered off, faster switching times, and overall lower operating voltage. The invention improves CNT array quality by creating a temperature gradient to release metallic CNTs from the array matrix.

Benefits

• Less lost power while off
• Faster switching time
• Lower operating voltage