Template:MY3701

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 of electronic device creation is the flexibility that is inherent to the process. Provided suitable materials and schematics are available it is possible to build any combination of devices. The transistor is a small but very potent part of this flexibility. Once a suitable transistor is designed, numerous electronic circuits of interest can then be fabricated such as logic gates, amplifying circuits and device control switches. Not only can these devices be created, they can be scaled to suit specific needs.

It would be possible then for a suitably equipped 3D printer to not only be able to print "smart" parts that could electronically interface with each other, but to also build control circuits used to run the printers. Some applications could include building control board for running newer versions of 3D printers that not only handle the operational control functions of running stepper motors and controlling current to the extrusion head, but also sensing capabilities that could be directly integrated into the components used to build the printers. integrating sensing circuits into printed components would allow for feedback signals that could permit higher quality parts to be printed with less waste due to part scrapping.

Method of Printing Transistors

The bulk of the 3D printed part can be constructed using traditional extrusion methods to build up the surfaces and component as desired. The printing of the transistor and associated trace leads would require the creation of a flat smooth surface. To achieve this desired surface after creating the plane where the transistor is to be located, several layers of polyurethane should be used to fill in small surface defects left behind by previous passes with the extrusion head.

The simplest solution to applying the polyurethane is to use a modified Ink-Jet printing cartridge. The purpose of the inkjet head is to provide a controllable fine droplet pattern similar to that achieved by a spray head used for coating surfaces with polyurethane. The layers should be applied in successive passes avoiding delays between each layer to ensure that the layers fully bond to each other and to allow the liquid polyurethane to "float" the surface to achieve as smooth and flat a surface as desired. Because the method relies on the polyurethane to "float" the surface, the applying of transistors is limited to work in the flat plane that is normal to the pull of gravity. This will require some care in the setup of the printer itself as the liquid polyurethane may tend to run if applied to a surface that is not level. This may be somewhat controlled by building up an extruded dam of material prior to applying the polyurethane forming a lake or pool for the polyurethane to cure in

Once the flat surface is achieved the ZnSb semiconductor can be applied to create the semiconductor N-P-N junction. Additionally silver ink [1] may be applied to create conductive traces to carry the signals to and from the transistor. Both the silver ink and the transistor material will need to be cured after application. One possible method of curing the material is the use of a small radiant heating element fitted to the extrusion carriage so that the heat may be applied only where desired to avoid unnecessary thermal input back into the previously extruded material.

After the thermal treatment of the material several additional coatings of polyurethane may be applied to protect the circuit traces and the transistor junction itself. In much the same way that traditional printed circuit boards use vias to provide electrical connection between layers, portions of the circuit may be "masked" off to allow for an electrical equivalent. In places where it is desired to provide interconnection between layers the polyurethane may be excluded during the recoating process.

After the new layer is applied an additional transistor and circuit traces may be applied to increase the density of electrical components within the device. The limitation here is the possibility of electrical interference from adjacent layers due to induced signals from one layer to the next. This along with concerns of dissipating thermal energy will require some ingenuity and experimentation on the part of the daring user.

Materials

Cost

Material Source Cost MSDS
Zinc ScienceLab $0.32/g [1]
Antimony [2] $2.19/g [3]
α-terpineol ScienceLab $0.20/ml [4]
DisperBYK-110 BYK TBA TBA
Copper Granular ScienceLab $0.71/g [5]
Tellurium Powder ScienceLab $1.57/g [6]
Conductive Silver Ink iimak TBA [7]
Verowhite polyeurathane Redeye TBA [8]

Steps of Synthesizing

P-Type ZnSb

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 [2]http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pssa.201127211/pdf</ref>. The atomic weight percent of copper needed to have efficient doping is 0.1 aw% Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag, for this we will use the chemicals α-terpineol and DisperBYK-110 which are the same as [2]. 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.

N-Type ZnSb

Doping the ZnSb with Tellurium will create an n-type material. To get an n-type ZnSb is very difficult, but can be done. A study [3], shows that there has to be a certain atomic weight percent of Tellurium, which is 2.06at%. The process of creating the n-type ZnSb is to heat the the granular Zinc and Antimony with the powdered Tellurium at 923 in an ampoule then water quenching the ampoule. After opening the ampoule the materials will be ball-milled until finely crushed After the doping process the process for the P-Type ZnSb paste will be repeated with the α-terpineol at 10 milliliters get 10 grams of ZnSb and the 1 milliliter of DisperBYK-110.

Dia Workflow

Transitor creation workflow.png

Purification Methods

The raw materials purchased from ScienceLab.com are of acceptable minimum purity for the purpose of creating transistors. The minimum purity for each metal going into the semiconductor is listed in the table below.

Metal Purity
Zinc 99.8% (min)
Antimony 99% (min)
Copper 98% (approx)
Tellurium 99.5% (min)

Testing

The p-type doping concentration is not crucial, so there is no testing necessary to determine it.

As a method of testing the doping concentration of tellurium in the n-type zinc antimonide, a wafer is printed. It is then tested to find resistivity using a Signatone Manual Four Point Resistivity Probing Equipment fitted with an SP4 Four Point Probe Head[4]. Resistivity is used to find the doping density according to the following equation[5]:

Where the inverse of the resistivity is , conductivity, e is the charge of an electron, is the electron mobility, and is the doping concentration.

Material Properties

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

Characterization

One method found in previous experiments for characterizing ZnSb is X-ray diffraction[6] X-Ray diffraction shows the phase, as well as the inter-plainer spacing and size of the crystal lattice. Determination of the lattice parameter will show if there are interstitials or vacancies. [7]

Applications

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

Possible Applications:

DIY signal amplifiers - amateur radio Improved 3D-printers w/ smart sensors in the print head for better accuracy DIY control boards for RC cars Smart legos, e.g. interlocking device blocks that could allow for highly modular circuit building "toys"

Basically the ability to create anything that already uses a transistor, maybe not quite CPUs (really high transistor density) however simpler devices such as logic gates and counting chips would be perfectly fair game. It would even be possible to create basic registers to allow for a smart device to have a really simply form of RAM to work with.

Electronic Diagram

  • Nate -> Do a google search for NPN transistor for pics & ideas to work with
  • Make a basic diagram for an electronic device that could use this semiconductor and post

diagram in your project page.

OpenSCAD

The proposed semiconductor was drawn up using OpenSCAD. The basic design is that of a fairly simple NPN junction[8]. Implementation in real devices will likely require some experimentation on the part of the the end user to determine the optimal scaling of the device based on intended use.

In the two views of the device, the blue material corresponds to the p-type material, the red corresponds to the n-type material. The green sections are conductive traces intended to be made from a material capable of carrying a signal such as Xerox's Silver nano-particle ink[9]


3D-NPN Isometric view.png
Top down view.png

OpenSCAD

Below is the OpenSCAD code used to generate the model:

//P-type
color([0,0,1])
cube([1,4,1]);
//RH-N-type
color([1,0,0])
translate([1,0,0])
cube([2,4,1]);
//LH-N-type
color([1,0,0])
translate([-2,0,0])
cube([2,4,1]);
//P-contact trace
union(){
color([0,1,0])
translate([0.25,-4,0])
cube([0.5,4,0.5]);
color([0,1,1])
translate([0.5,-4.5,0])
cylinder(h=0.5,r=1,$fn=100);
}
//RH-N-contact trace
union(){
color([0,1,0])
translate([3,1.75,0])
cube([3,0.5,0.5]);
color([0,1,0])
translate([6,-3.75,,0])
cube([0.5,6,0.5]);
color([0,1,1])
translate([6.3,-4.5,0])
cylinder(h=0.5,r=1,$fn=100);
}
//LH-N-contact trace
union(){
color([0,1,0])
translate([-5.0,1.75,0])
cube([3,0.5,0.5]);
color([0,1,0])
translate([-5.5,-3.75,,0])
cube([0.5,6,0.5]);
color([0,1,1])
translate([-5.25,-4.5,0])
cylinder(h=0.5,r=1,$fn=100);

STL

The link listed below is for the resulting .stl file for inclusion of the transistor in an actual device. Please note however that the model is scaled quite large using (mostly) integer sizes (mm) so that it can be readily scaled down depending on the application.

[Printable transistor]

Please see the description listed in the OpenSCAD section for material placements & types.

References

  1. "Silver Ink to print Plastic Circuits". Xerox Corporation.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named paste
  3. http://www.jim.or.jp/journal/e/pdf3/50/10/2473.pdf
  4. LucasLabs.com: Signatone
  5. S.O. Kasap. Principles of Electronic Materials and Devices, Third Edition, McGraw Hill, New Delhi, 2006, p. 389
  6. "Nanocrystalline ZnSb2O6: Hydrothermal synthesis, electronic structure and photocatalytic activity". Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical.
  7. Template:Culitty, B.D., and S.R. Stock. Elements of X-Ray Diffraction. 3rd Edition. Prentice Hall, 2001. Print.
  8. "Bipolar Junction transistor". Wikipedia Bipolar Transistors.
  9. "Silver Ink to print Plastic Circuits". Xerox Corporation.

Contacts

Alisha Clark Robert Cooley Nathaniel Musser Michel Knuden
user:Alishac user:Rjcooley user:Namusser user:M.Knudsen
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