Luis Ruiz-Preciado1,2,Sanghoon Baek1,2,3,Noah Strobel1,2,Youngmin Jo3,Jimin Kwon3,Mervin Seiberlich1,2,Karl-Philipp Strunk2,Sebastian Raths4,Sebastian Stehlin2,Stefan Schlisske2,Peter Erk4,Uli Lemmer1,2,Kai Exner5,Christian Melzer2,Sungjune Jung3,Gerardo Hernandez-Sosa1,2
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology1,InnovationLab2,Pohang University of Science and Technology3,BASF SE4,BASF New Business GmbH5
Luis Ruiz-Preciado1,2,Sanghoon Baek1,2,3,Noah Strobel1,2,Youngmin Jo3,Jimin Kwon3,Mervin Seiberlich1,2,Karl-Philipp Strunk2,Sebastian Raths4,Sebastian Stehlin2,Stefan Schlisske2,Peter Erk4,Uli Lemmer1,2,Kai Exner5,Christian Melzer2,Sungjune Jung3,Gerardo Hernandez-Sosa1,2
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology1,InnovationLab2,Pohang University of Science and Technology3,BASF SE4,BASF New Business GmbH5
The performance of organic photodiodes (OPDs) has recently achieved a level that is comparable to inorganic materials, facilitating their application in more complex systems such as large-area image sensors. Accordingly, this progress has motivated the transfer of OPD fabrication into industrially-relevant fabrication processes, while maintaining a high device performance.<sup>1</sup> Inkjet printing allows precise control and design for the deposition of functional materials, and represents an effective tool for the fabrication of devices composed by multilayer and multi-device systems.<sup>2</sup><br/>Herein, we describe the fabrication of solution-processed image sensor matrices on ultrathin, flexible substrates. We achieve this by the monolithic integration of a high-performance, fully-printed organic photodetector (OPD) into a matrix of inkjet-printed, bottom-gate, top contact organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs). Complementary, we fabricated the OPDs onto photolithography patterned, top-gate, bottom contact OTFTs, demonstrating a compatible integration process with different OFET technologies and substrates. The design and characterization of the integrated pixel and the sensor elements are presented. The optimized integrated devices have a spectral coverage of wavelengths in the visible and near-infrared region (350 – 800 nm) with a peak responsivity above 300 mA/W, competing with commercially available devices based on Si. Finally, the demonstration of the matrix (10 × 10 pixels) as an image sensor shows the potential of the integrated pixels for its use in large-area array imagers which is also compatible with low cost, flexible substrates. The achieved high device performance and the industrial relevance of the developed fabrication process will contribute to enable future applications in optoelectronic technologies where freedom of design, performance, low-weight and flexibility are crucial.