The First Step towards a R2R Printing Foundry via a Complementary Design Rule in Physical Dimension for Fabricating Flexible 4‐Bit Code Generator

Abstract

AbstractRoll‐to‐roll (R2R) printed electronics have been considered as the holy grail for the low‐cost manufacturing of expendable and compliant electronic devices. However, a lapse exists in unlocking the full potential of R2R printed electronics in that there has yet to be a R2R foundry able to integrate complementary metal‐oxide‐semiconductor (CMOS) logic gates into such devices. Herein, a R2R printing foundry based on a complementary design rule of physical dimension in which the rheology of electronic inks, R2R printing speed, overlay printing registration accuracy and device design are complementary to one another is proposed. As a proof of concept of the complementary design rule, 44 single walled carbon nanotube‐based p‐type and n‐type thin film transistors are printed to integrate a CMOS ring oscillator, six CMOS NAND gates, and a CMOS OR gate for 4‐bit code generation through a R2R gravure printer. This low‐bit code generator fabricated via R2R printing illustrates is the first step in establishing R2R printing foundry for manufacturing logic gate‐based flexible devices.