Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Transfer printing by kinetic control of adhesion to an elastomeric stamp

Abstract

An increasing number of technologies require large-scale integration of disparate classes of separately fabricated objects into spatially organized, functional systems1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. Here we introduce an approach for heterogeneous integration based on kinetically controlled switching between adhesion and release of solid objects to and from an elastomeric stamp. We describe the physics of soft adhesion that govern this process and demonstrate the method by printing objects with a wide range of sizes and shapes, made of single-crystal silicon and GaN, mica, highly ordered pyrolytic graphite, silica and pollen, onto a variety of substrates without specially designed surface chemistries or separate adhesive layers. Printed p–n junctions and photodiodes fixed directly on highly curved surfaces illustrate some unique device-level capabilities of this approach.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Schematic illustration of the generic process flow for transfer printing solid objects.
Figure 2: Rate dependence of stamp adhesion.
Figure 3: Images of transfer-printed objects derived from semiconductor wafers that demonstrate a range of capabilities.
Figure 4: Images of transfer printed objects with sheet-like and globular geometries.
Figure 5: Silicon microstructures and solar cells printed onto curved surfaces by rolling and pressing.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Georgakilas, A. et al. Wafer-scale integration of GaAs optoelectronic devices with standard Si integrated circuits using a low-temperature bonding procedure. Appl. Phys. Lett. 81, 5099–5101 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Yeh, H.-J. J. & Smith, J. S. Fluidic self-assembly for the integration of GaAs light-emitting diodes on Si substrates. IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 6, 706–708 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Ambrosy, A., Richter, H., Hehmann, J. & Ferling, D. Silicon motherboards for multichannel optical modules. IEEE Trans. Compon. Pack. A 19, 34–40 (1996).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Lambacher, A. et al. Electrical imaging of neuronal activity by multi-transistor-array (MTA) recording at 7.8 μm resolution. Appl. Phys. A 79, 1607–1611 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Menard, E., Lee, K. J., Khang, D.-Y., Nuzzo, R. G. & Rogers, J. A. A printable form of silicon for high performance thin film transistors on plastic substrates. Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 5398–5400 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Zhu, Z.-T., Menard, E., Hurley, K., Nuzzo, R. G. & Rogers, J. A. Spin on dopants for high-performance single-crystal silicon transistors on flexible plastic substrates. Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 133507 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Sun, Y. & Rogers, J. A. Fabricating semiconductor nano/microwires and transfer printing ordered arrays of them onto plastic substrates. Nano Lett. 4, 1953–1959 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Jacobs, H. O., Tao, A. R., Schwartz, A., Gracias, D. H. & Whitesides, G. M. Fabrication of a cylindrical display by patterned assembly. Science 296, 323–325 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Reuss, R. H. et al. Macroelectronics: Perspectives on technology and applications. Proc. IEEE 93, 1239–1256 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Haisma, J. & Spierings, G. A. C. M. Contact bonding, including direct-bonding in a historical and recent context of materials science and technology, physics and chemistry—historical review in a broader scope and comparative outlook. Mater. Sci. Eng. R 37, 1–60 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Zheng, W. & Jacobs, H. O. Shape-and solder-directed self-assembly to package semiconductor device segments. Appl. Phys. Lett. 85, 3635–3637 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Bowden, N., Terfort, A., Carbeck, J. & Whitesides, G. M. Self-assembly of mesoscale objects into ordered two-dimensional arrays. Science 276, 233–235 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. O’Riordan, A., Delaney, P. & Redmond, G. Field configured assembly: programmed manipulation and self-assembly at the mesoscale. Nano Lett. 4, 761–765 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Tanase, M. et al. Magnetic trapping and self-assembly of multicomponent nanowires. J. Appl. Phys. 91, 8549–8551 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Hsia, K. J. et al. Collapse of stamps for soft lithography due to interfacial adhesion. Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 154106 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Huang, Y. Y. et al. Stamp collapse in soft lithography. Langmuir 21, 8058–8068 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Roberts, A. D. Looking at rubber adhesion. Rubber Chem. Technol. 52, 23–42 (1979).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Barquins, M. Adherence, friction and wear of rubber-like materials. Wear 158, 87–117 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Shull, K. R., Ahn, D., Chen, W.-L., Flanigan, C. M. & Crosby, A. J. Axisymmetric adhesion tests of soft materials. Macromol. Chem. Phys. 199, 489–511 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Brown, H. R. The adhesion between polymers. Annu. Rev. Mater. Sci. 21, 463–489 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Deruelle, M., Léger, L. & Tirrell, M. Adhesion at the solid-elastomer interface: influence of interfacial chains. Macromolecules 28, 7419–7428 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Hutchinson, J. W. & Suo, Z. Mixed mode cracking in layered materials. Adv. Appl. Mech. 29, 63–191 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Lee, K. J. et al. Large-area, selective transfer of microstructured silicon (μs-Si): a printing-based approach to high-performance thin-film transistors supported on flexible substrates. Adv. Mater. 17, 2332–2336 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Aoki, K. et al. Microassembly of semiconductor three dimensional photonic crystals. Nature Mater. 2, 117–121 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Noda, S., Yamamoto, N. & Sasaki, A. New realization method for three-dimensional photonic crystal in optical wavelength region. Jpn J. Appl. Phys. 35, L909–L912 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Horn, R. G. & Smith, D. T. Contact electrification and adhesion between dissimilar materials. Science 256, 362–364 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Rogers, J. A., Paul, K. E., Jackman, R. J. & Whitesides, G. M. Using an elastomeric phase mask for sub-100 nm photolithography in the optical near field. Appl. Phys. Lett. 70, 2658–2660 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank A. Shim for helpful discussions, A. Jerez for help generating schematic cartoons, J. Rinne for supplying silica microspheres, J. Lyding for the use of his AFM, and C. J. Hubert for the use of her African Violets. This work was supported by DARPA-funded AFRL-managed Macroelectronics Program Contract FA8650-04-C-7101, the US Department of Energy under grant DEFG02-91-ER45439, the National Science Foundation under grant DMII-0328162, and a graduate fellowship from the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John A. Rogers.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Meitl, M., Zhu, ZT., Kumar, V. et al. Transfer printing by kinetic control of adhesion to an elastomeric stamp. Nature Mater 5, 33–38 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1532

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1532

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing