Nanostructures of Liquid Crystals and Semiconductor Device Fabrication

This research work is focused on the study of nanostructures of liquid crystalline materials and the fabrication of semiconductor devices. Various characterization techniques have been utilized to determine the nanostructures of liquid crystals and their potential technological applications. Supramolecular self-assembly of a new, untwisted filamentary phase from tricarbosilane-terminated bent-core liquid crystal compounds was observed in this study. We found that the akyl spacer length between the core and tricarbosilane group plays a crucial role in inducing the formation of various phases upon cooling from polar phases.

Highly ordered liquid crystalline phases, like the layered herringbone phase, have been studied for their application as thin film field-effect transistors. Using state-of-the-art techniques, like atomic layer etching and other processes, we have developed a new kind of thin film field-effect transistor with corrugated dielectric-semiconductor interface. The presence of corrugations in the dielectric-semiconductor interface enables the self-assembly of liquid crystalline semiconductor material into very large and well-ordered domains with enhanced charge carrier mobility. This results in overall improvement in drain current and device performance.

Full pdf - https://www.colorado.edu/mse/node/501/attachment