Electronics (including micro, nano, and quantum systems); mechanics (including MEMS, NEMS, MOEMS, and NOEMS); mechatronics (including robots, artificial muscles, and automated air vehicles); informatics (including software, hardware, and communication); materials science (including conjugated polymers, smart materials, and conducting small molecules); and optoelectronics (optical fibers and lenses) are the critical elements of development in science today. Integration is the practical concept by which these elements are combined and implemented; so that a new high performance, low cost, and lightweight organic electronic components (devices or systems) can be produced with shorter lead time.
Organic electronics or polymer electronics represent the important branch of material science dealing with electrically conductive polymers and small conductive molecules of carbon-based nature. This branch focuses on optimizing the semi-conductivity, conductivity, light-emitting properties of organic materials (polymers, oligomers, and small molecules), and hybrid composites having organic-inorganic structures. That is because organic (p-conjugated) polymers exhibit the following attractive advantages:
- can be formed and shaped from solution depending on high-tech processes such as spin coating or inkjet printing at room temperature due to their lightweight and flexibility.
- the capability of acting as electron donors and acceptors for structuring organic photovoltaics such as large scale, micro-, and nano-solar cells.
- the ability to control their low band gaps energy levels makes them promising for fabricating developed organic electronic systems such as field-effect transistors, solar cells, light-emitting diodes, etc.
Every year new conducting polymers, small molecules, composites, and complexes are being developed. Parallel to such development, the opportunities for additional electronic applications have increased. Included in this book are polymeric structures of the most familiar electronic devices (micro, opto, nano, etc.).
The main objective of this book is to help designers to optimize their design of organic electronic systems built out of novel polymers. For example, it is not enough to calculate the optical constants of an optoelectronic light-emitting diode LED using Afromowitz dielectric model starting from the calculation of the real and imaginary part of the dielectric function, but its optical performance must be optimized by applying optical modeling of thin layers on a polymeric substrate.
Chapter 1 is an introduction to polymers for electronic engineers. It provides identifications of polymers, micro-polymers, nano-polymers, resins, hydrocarbons, and oligomers. The chapter contains a classification of polymer families, types, complexes, composites, nanocomposites, compounds, and small molecules. Several optimized ideas have been introduced to make this book a practical reference source.
Chapter 2 is also introductory but explaining the principles of electronics to polymer engineers. It provides information on electronic theories of polymers. The theories are very important for undergraduate students in understanding mechanisms of polymer conductivity and studying theories governing the electrical conductivity of polymers. This chapter was also illustrated with optimized ideas to facilitate practical applications.
Chapter 3 contains information on concepts and optimized types of electronic (polymers, small molecules, organic complexes, and elastomers). It contains a classification system of electronic polymers such as piezoelectric and pyroelectric, optoelectronic, electroactive, and mechatronics, and electronic small molecules, organic electronic complexes, and electronic elastomers. The chapter helps in the selection of the optimized electronic polymers, small molecules, complexes, and elastomers for structuring organic electronic systems.
Chapter 4 covers the most common properties of electronic polymers, such as electrical, electronic, and optical properties. The methods of optimization of electrical, electronic, and optical properties-dependent organic electronic structures are critical components of the chapter. For example, high occupied molecular orbital HOMO, low unoccupied molecular orbital LUMO, band gap, are essential concepts for understanding the electronic properties of electronic polymers.
Chapter 5 is the location of discussion on polymeric structured printed circuit boards (PCBs). Here the reader may start building his own experience in creating polymer-based PCBs. Advanced PCBs and rapid PCB prototyping (a state of the art) are discussed. Optimizing the polymeric structures of organic printed circuit boards is broadly discussed here.
Both chapters 6 and 7 are based on two crucial and advanced types of electronic components (polymer-based active and passive electronic components). Chapter 6 focuses on optimizing the polymeric structures of organic active electronic components, and chapter 7 on optimizing the polymeric structures of organic passive electronic components. The most critical systems listed in chapter 6 include integrated circuits ICs, organic thin-film transistors OTFT, organic light-emitting diodes OLEDs, optoelectronic devices, photovoltaic (or photo-electronic) systems, tandem or multi-junction organic solar cells, display technologies, discharge devices, organic thermo-electric generators, etc. The most important systems listed in chapter 7 include thin-film resistors, tantalum capacitors, axial inductors, fiber optic cable (fiber optic networks), optical sensors, flexible-skin contact antenna, flexible elastomeric actuators, etc.
Chapter 8 describes the polymeric structures of optoelectronics and photonics supplied with the main optical and physical properties of conjugated polymers used for structuring the most developed optoelectronic devices and their optimization. Optoelectronic polymers such as optical electroactive conjugated polymers, optical organic photovoltaic polymers, and electro-phosphorescence polymers are used to emphasize the high efficiencies of the used optoelectronic devices.
Chapter 9 has been designed to show the importance of polymeric structures for the packaging of electronic devices, namely nanoelectronic packagings such as nanoelectronic circuits packaging and nanoelectromechanical packaging NEMS. Optimized polymeric structures of organic electronic packages are the subject of this chapter.