Speaker: Dr. Aram Amassian

Semiconductor Inks

Aram Amassian
Materials Science and Engineering
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695

Abstract

Ink-based semiconductors are a growing class of functional materials encompassing conjugated molecules and polymers, colloidal quantum dots, metal halide perovskites, and metal oxides, all of which can be solution-processed to form solid-state materials for electronic, optoelectronic and energy applications. Establishing structure-property relationships for these emerging materials has been crucial to guiding their development toward breakthroughs in device performance and power conversion efficiency. As semiconductor devices place very stringent requirements on the microstructure, morphology and surface/interface of electronic materials, in-depth understanding of solidification mechanisms from solution are essential for further progress. In particular, establishment of formulation-process-structure-property relationships that guide microstructural development of functional materials through mechanistic understanding of the roles of ink formulations and processing methods would be particularly beneficial. We developed in situ diagnostics approaches which enabled investigations of the solidification of ink-based semiconductors during solution-processing. Our methods have since been applied to different classes of semiconductor inks under realistic processing conditions, have shed light on solidification mechanisms and resulted in innovations in formulation and processing approaches that resulted in precise microstructural control, improved semiconductor properties and device performance. With the recent explosion in the diversity of ink-based semiconductors across diverse classes of materials, labor-intensive establishment of formulation-process-structure-property relationships is increasingly challenging without leveraging big data and machine learning (ML) approaches. Our efforts in this direction focus on experimental workflow acceleration through automation and miniaturizing with the help of robotic ink handling, high-throughput characterization and adoption of co-design strategies of devices, solid materials and their inks. In the future, these approaches can be coupled to ML to enable autonomous experimentation which will accelerate the pace of knowledge generation and innovation as well as reduce time-to-market for emerging ink-based technologies. 

Bio:

Aram Amassian is associate professor in the materials science and engineering and a member of the Carbon Electronics cluster at NC State University. He joined NC State University in 2018 after 9 years at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Aram received his B.Eng. and PhD in Engineering Physics from Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, Canada and was subsequently NSERC postdoctoral fellow in the department of Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University. Dr. Amassian’s research interests are in the area of ink-based semiconductors, their processing, in situ characterization and their use in (opto)electronic and energy harvesting applications. He has co-authored more than 200 publications in peer reviewed journals and was awarded the Career Development SABIC Chair (2013-2016) for his work on solution processed optoelectronic materials.