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Inkjet printing is a promising and challenging technique that could potentially revolutionize large area and organic electronics fabrication. Inkjet systems are designed to construct devices and circuits drop by drop, which would lead to a new paradigm in electronics fabrication. However, inkjet technology for Printed Electronics is still under development and several challenges remain. While there is significant progress being made in the development of electronic devices, such as transistors or sensors, there is a lack of work on circuit and system level design. Designing devices and circuits implies a wide knowledge of process aspects, requiring a complex interaction among concepts, tools and processes coming from different science and engineering disciplines. An explicit methodology is needed to separate design from fabrication in a similar way as in silicon design, to design devices and systems without a deep knowledge of process and materials; thus making it possible to open up inkjet technology to a larger community and undergo more rapid design implementations. In this paper we present the main aspects of such a methodology and we discuss the key topics on inkjet technology that allow us to propose these new specific steps.

Organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) are promising candidates as alternatives to silicon TFTs for applications where light weight, large area and flexibility are required. OTFTs have shown potential for cost effective fabrication using solution deposition techniques under mild conditions. However, two major issues must be addressed prior to the commercialization of OTFT-based electronics: (i) low charge mobilities and (ii) insufficient air stability. This article reviews recent progress in the design and development of thiophene-based polymer semiconductors as channel materials for OTFTs. To date, both high performance p-type and n-type thiophene-based polymers with benchmark charge carrier mobility of > 0.5 cm² V^-1 s^-1 have been archived, which bring printed OTFTs one step closer to commercialization.

Studying on the drying and sintering process of printed electronics in high temperature environment at the condition of roll to roll printing is of great significance to the function of printed electronics. This paper introduces a control system for the experiment platform of the drying and sintering of the roll to roll printing. The driving platform is driven by the stepper motor, which is controlled by PLC; the heat roller is heated by the external circulation heat conducting oil, and the temperature of the heat conducting oil is controlled by the temperature control instrument. Tension is measured by a pair of tension sensors, which are shown by the tension meter. In the experimental process, the temperature and pressure of the experimental data, through the 485 bus to the host computer, are stored by the host computer. The assembly test results show that the control system of the experimental platform can meet the requirements of the control system. The experimental platform not only can simulate the continuous movement from one volume to the next volume, but also can adapt to the short length of the sample prepared in the laboratory.