The team, led by Tobin J. Marks, Vladimir N. Ipatieff Professor of Chemistry and professor of materials science and engineering, has designed organic molecules that self assemble into an ultra-thin layer (less than six nanometers thick) for use in the dielectric, or nonconducting, component of a transistor. Their tailored molecular components reduce both operating voltage and power consumption in organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) structures, making low-power consumption OTFTs a reality. "This means having plastic electronics the size of a pen battery -- rather than an automobile battery -- power your cell phone," said Marks. "And, instead of being carved out of silicon, transistor structures would be printed in a fashion similar to that of newspapers, but with organic molecules as the ink and plastic as the paper. Much as the New York Times prints a different edition of the newspaper every day, we could flexibly print a wide variety of electronic devices quickly, easily and cheaply." Examples include RFID tags for labeling items in a store or tracking them in a factory. "You could walk up to a cash register at the grocery store," said Marks, "and it would automatically sense what each item costs and whether or not it has passed its expiration date -- all in one step." In their paper, Marks and fellow authors Antonio Facchetti, research professor of chemistry, and Myung-Han Yoon, a graduate student in chemistry, showed that their new nanodielectric multilayers have very high capacitances (the ability to store an electrical charge) and excellent insulating properties and are compatible with a variety of organic semiconductors and substrate materials, the other key components of a transistor. Source: Northwestern University