Fast ultrahigh-density writing of low-conductivity patterns on semiconducting polymers

• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3668
• Publication Date: 2013-11-05T11:17:45Z
• Authors: Marco Farina; Tengling Ye; Guglielmo Lanzani; Andrea di Donato; Giuseppe Venanzoni; Davide Mencarelli; Tiziana Pietrangelo; Antonio Morini; Panagiotis E. Kei...
• Keywords: Condensed Matter - Materials Science; Microfluidic; atomic force microscopy; conjugated polymers; Antibody Microarray; Engineering and Technology; Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci); FOS: Physical sciences; 02 engineering and technology; Electrical Engineering - Electronic Engineering - Information Engineering; 0210 nano-technology; Single Cell Protein

22 pages, 6 figures, published in Nature Communications as Article (8 pages)<br/>The exceptional interest in improving the limitations of data storage, molecular electronics, and optoelectronics has promoted the development of an ever increasing number of techniques used to pattern polymers at micro and nanoscale. Most of them rely on Atomic Force Microscopy to thermally or electrostatically induce mass transport, thereby creating topographic features. Here we show that the mechanical interaction of the tip of the Atomic Force Microscope with the surface of a class of conjugate polymers produces a local increase of molecular disorder, inducing a localized lowering of the semiconductor conductivity, not associated to detectable modifications in the surface topography. This phenomenon allows for the swift production of low conductivity patterns on the polymer surface at an unprecedented speed exceeding 20 $��m s^{-1}$; paths have a resolution in the order of the tip size (20 nm) and are detected by a Conducting-Atomic Force Microscopy tip in the conductivity maps.<br/>