Orthogonal processing: A new strategy for organic electronics

The concept of chemical orthogonality has long been practiced in the field of inorganic semiconductor fabrication, where it is necessary to deposit and remove a layer of photoresist without damaging the underlying layers. However, these processes involving light sensitive polymers often damage organic materials, preventing the use of photolithography to pattern organic electronic devices. In this article we show that new photoresist materials that are orthogonal to organics allow the fabrication of complex devices, such as hybrid organic/inorganic circuitry and full-colour organic displays. The examples demonstrate that properly designed photoresists enable the fabrication of organic electronic devices using existing infrastructure.