Complementary Organic Semiconductor and Metal Integrated Circuits

Vision & Aim

COSMIC will advance the state of the art of complementary organic circuits, i.e. circuits combining n-type and p-type organic thin film transistors (OTFTs). The project comprises extensive research on technology, circuit design, OTFT modelling and characterization. The technology effort includes material and printing processes co-development (incl. LC polymers) and focuses on large area and highly productive in-line compatible processes. COSMIC's research will strongly contribute to advancement of the scientific knowledge in organic electronics. The use of complementary transistors will enable major breakthroughs in performance and application potential of OTFT circuits. Complementary digital circuits show a dramatically improved noise margin, allowing higher complexity and yield compared to p-type-only circuits. They can work at lower supply voltage (often below 10V) resulting in reduced power consumption and better integration potential between silicon and organic electronics. High complexity will enable many new applications for organic digital circuits. In COSMIC we selected two specific logic applications as demonstrators: a display line driver and an ALU. The availability of complementary devices will also enable the design of analogue circuits using OTFTs, a basically unexplored field at the moment. In COSMIC an analogue to digital converter coupled to a temperature sensor will be demonstrated, showing for the first time the potential of OTFTs in the sensors and actuator market. A silent authentication tag comprising a first organic RF receiver will also be build, to show organic electronics’ potential in the field of item-level, secure tracking of goods using realistic protocols. All COSMIC applications are of direct relevance to the industrial partners within the consortium and demonstrate the capability of organic complementary technology to generate value for the European industry at large.

the Competitive Call for a new project partner has been closed May 26, 2010. Thank you very much

Project Partners

  • Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Angewandten Forschung E.V, DE
  • Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, FR
  • Interuniversitair Micro-Electronica Centrum VZW, BE
  • STMicroelectronics SRL, IT
  • Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek – TNO, NL
  • Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, NL
  • Technische Universitat Berlin, DE
  • Friendly Technologies LTD, UK
  • Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, IT
  • Universita di Catania, IT
  • FLEXINK, UK
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