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Introduction

Our team is trying to develop a way to print a Zinc Antimonide (ZnSb) semiconductor transistor.

Background

  • Team
  • Brief description of the semiconductor material with a link to the manufacturer(s) or suppliers

Benefits of 3D Printing

The core benefit of using the 3D printing approach is the flexibility that is inherent to the process. The desision to focus on a simple transistor is the possibility to build numerous devices such as logic gates, amplifying circuits, control switches and similar devices. It would be possible then for a suitiby equipped 3D printer to not only be able to print "smart" parts, but to also build control circuits that would be capible of driving the stepper motors and print heads of the machine.

  • Mike
  • A description of how it could be 3D printed

Materials Required

Material Source Cost MSDS
Zinc Powder ScienceLab $0.18/g [1]
Antimony Powder ScienceLab $4.16/g [2]
α-terpineol ScienceLab $0.20/ml [3]
DisperBYK-110 BYK TBA TBA
Copper Granular ScienceLab $0.71/g [4]

Steps of Synthesizing

Doping the ZnSb with copper will create a p-type material. To do this a combination of heating, quenching, and ball-mill crushing will be implemented. All the granular metals (Zinc, Antimony, and Copper) will be together in a container and placed in a furnace. With the furnace set at 1073K for 24 hours, with the occasional rocking. The granular pieces after the furnace will be left to cool at room temperature. Using a ball-milling machine with an argon atmosphere for 1-1.5 hours to finely crush the granulars, similar to the process in [5]. To get a printable viscosity a process similar to [6]. For this we will use the chemicals α-terpineol and DisperBYK-110. For every 10 grams crushed ZnSb 10 milliliters of α-terpineol will be used and 1 milliliter of DisperBYK-110 and make sure that it is mixed well [1].

Dia Workflow

  • Alisha
  • Create a diagram in Dia outlining your workflow to summarize the steps, and the

equipment, processes, chemicals, steps involved. Show alternate paths and discuss the optimal route and the metrics for choosing it.

Cost

  • Alisha
  • A detailed BOM of the chemicals used to make it with links to sources and prices in a

table - and total cost.

Purification Methods

  • Robert
  • Outline purification methods and the methods needed to obtain acceptable purity for your

material.

Testing

  • Robert
  • A description of the testing procedures, equipment and specifications for the equipment

used to determine if you obtained your target compound.

Material Properties

  • Robert
  • A list of best in class material properties for your ink.

Characterization

  • Nate
  • Discuss the characterization methods and how they could be adapted for in-situ analysis.

Applications

  • Nate
  • List and describe applications of this semiconductor if it is printed.

Electronic Diagram

  • Nate
  • Make a basic diagram for an electronic device that could use this semiconductor and post

diagram in your project page.

OpenSCAD

  • Mike
  • Design the semiconductor portion of the device in OpenSCAD, paste the code directly

into your project page

STL

  • Mike
  • Post the STL of your design and a link to the STL on your project page.

Contacts

Alisha Clark Robert Cooley Nathaniel Musser Michel Knuden
user:Alishac user:Rjcooley user:Namusser user:M.Knudsen
  1. Heon Bok, “Thermoelectric properties of screen-printed ZnSb film”, Department of Electrical Engineering, Republic of Korea, 2011.
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