This proposal is to acquire a highly specialized organic thin film deposition system for the development and characterization of new organic electronics and nanophotonic materials. The instrumentation will impact not only research in Optical Sciences, but is also considered to be critical in the training of students in Chemistry and Physics, through established and pending collaborations between these three departments. The Principal Investigator (Kippelen) was recently awarded an NSF CAREER Program on Organic Photonic Materials and Plastic Optoelectronic Technologies, an ECS grant # 9985222 and is engaged in several multidisciplinary research programs with faculty from The University of Arizona (Optical Sciences, Chemistry, and Physics) through programs funded by federal sources (AFOSR,DOE, NSF, ONR) and by industrial contracts (3M, Durel Corporation, eMagin, Intel, and Nitto Denko Corporation).
The acquisition of the proposed low temperature organic thin film deposition system will complement existing high temperature deposition systems that are used for the deposition of inorganic materials and will become a key building block in the research capabilities of the Optical Sciences Center at The University of Arizona, a Center that has one of the nation's finest teaching programs in optics at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. With this new instrumentation, students and postdoctorals will be able to create multifunctional organic materials for optical storage, displays and imaging -- three technologies expected to significantly impact both local and regional economies in coming decades. The development of processable, low cost, high performance organic materials and well trained students will play a key role in enabling such technologies. Instrumentation of this type does not exist currently on this campus, but is compatible with technologies developed recently in Chemistry (Armstrong). A true symbiosis between this proposed facility, and the materials characterization capabilities in Chemistry, is anticipated.
With the proposed organic thin film deposition system, the P1 will capitalize on recent breakthroughs in photorefractive and light-emitting polymers made possible by collaborations between faculty of the College of Science and the Optical Sciences Center to carry out research in the following areas: (i) highly efficient and reliable organic electroluminescent displays and organic lasers; (ii) photorefractive polymers for applications in communications and information processing, including dynamic holographic storage, and imaging; (iii) organic based photovoltaic technologies; (iv) nanometer thick patterned organic layers for organic field-effect transistors; and (v) organized nanostructures for nanoelectronics. The goals of these programs are to establish the foundations for an understanding of charge injection, charge transport, charge trapping, and light-emission in organic molecules and at interfaces with metallic electrodes. These advances will lead to new materials and disposable devices on light weight and flexible substrates that can be mass produced at low cost.
The ability to fabricate organic films with nanometer thickness control is essential for the advancement of new and improved organic photonic technologies. Current deposition systems at Optical Sciences for organic materials are limiting the performance of devices under investigation and the pace at which new samples can be produced. The SPECTROS system offered by the Kurt J. Lesker Company has been specially designed for the low temperature deposition of organic materials. It combines four sources for the evaporation and co-evaporation of organic materials with two sources for the deposition of metallic contacts. This unique system enables the fabrication of organic multilayer optoelectronic devices and their electrodes without breaking the vacuum or having to transfer samples between small bell-jars in a glove-box assembly. Since exposure to air and moisture is a critical parameter in determining the intrinsic optical and electronic properties of organics, this system will provide us with the capabilities required to compete with other research groups at the National and International levels in an area of intense global competition.
