Thursday, November 19, 2009
Sigma-Aldrich has teamed with 3M to distribute TIPS
Pentacene, a high-performance soluble organic semiconductor for printed and
flexible electronics. Sigma-Aldrich will exclusively distribute research
quantities of TIPS Pentacene globally through the Materials Science initiative
of its Aldrich business. 3M will
continue to focus on development of the soluble organic semiconductor
technology and to work directly with customers to deliver commercial quantities
of TIPS Pentacene.
Printed electronics is an emerging industry that takes
advantage of energy efficient printing technology to manufacture electronic
devices for applications including organic solar cells, radio frequency identification
(RFID) tags and flexible displays. These applications require organic
semiconductor materials that can be deposited using conventional low-cost
solution processing techniques such as spin or spray coating and ink-jet
printing. TIPS Pentacene, manufactured by 3M under the name 3M Organic
Electronics Semiconductor L-20856, is the first in a family of soluble
Pentacene-based semiconductors developed by 3M Electronics Markets Materials
Division in collaboration with Dr. John Anthony, professor at the University of
Kentucky and founder of Outrider Technologies LLC.
TIPS Pentacene, known chemically as
6,13-Bis(Triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene, is soluble in solvents compatible
with the electronics manufacturing environment and has been used to make
organic field effect transistors (OFETs) with highest reported switching speeds
and field-effect mobilities in its class. These properties make TIPS Pentacene
the most intensely studied small molecule soluble organic semiconductor and a
prime candidate for emerging OFET applications such as backplane circuitry for
utility-grade displays.
To learn more about TIPS Pentacene and other new organic
electronics materials available from Sigma-Aldrich, visit http://www.sigma-aldrich.com/oel or
read the latest issue of the Aldrich Material Matters "Organic and
Molecular Electronics" available at http://www.sigma-aldrich.com/materialmatters.
For more information about 3M Electronics Markets Materials Division, visit www.3M.com/electronics.