Dry photolithographic patterning process for organic electronic devices using supercritical carbon dioxide as a solvent

The particular challenge of micropatterning organic materials has stimulated numerous approaches for making effective and repeatable patterned structures with fine features. Among all the micropatterning techniques photolithography, being the preferred method for the inorganic semiconductor industry, did not create much impact due to its incompatibility with the majority of organic electronic materials. Here we introduce a novel, chemically benign approach to dry photolithographic patterning of organic materials using super-critical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) as a green developing solvent. We illustrate the possible applications of the new technique by patterning conducting polymers and light emitting polymers for organic light emitting diodes.