Transfer Printing by Kinetic Control of Adhesion to an Elastomeric Stamp

Abstract

An increasing number of technologies require large-scale integration of disparate classes of separately fabricated objects into spatially organized, functional systems(1-9). Here we introduce an approach for heterogeneous integration based on kinetically controlled switching between adhesion and release of solid objects to and from an elastomeric stamp. We describe the physics of soft adhesion that govern this process and demonstrate the method by printing objects with a wide range of sizes and shapes, made of single-crystal silicon and GaN, mica, highly ordered pyrolytic graphite, silica and pollen, onto a variety of substrates without specially designed surface chemistries or separate adhesive layers. Printed p-n junctions and photodiodes fixed directly on highly curved surfaces illustrate some unique device-level capabilities of this approach.