Selective vapor-phase deposition of conductive poly(3,4- ethylenedioxythiophene) thin films on patterned FeCl₃ formed by microcontact printing

We demonstrate a selective vapor-phase deposition of conductive poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) thin films on patterned FeCl ₃. The PEDOT thin films were grown on various substrates by using the vapor-phase polymerization of ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) with FeCl ₃ catalytic layers at 325 K. The selective deposition of the PEDOT thin films using vapor-phase polymerization was accomplished with patterned FeCl₃ layers as templates. Microcontact printing was done to prepare patterned FeCl₃ on polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) substrates. The selective vapor-phase deposition is based on the fact that the PEDOT thin films are selectively deposited only on the regions exposing FeCl₃ of the PET substrates, because the EDOT monomer can be polymerized only in the presence of oxidants, such as FeCl₃, Fe(ClO₄), and iron(II) salts of organic acids/inorganic acids containing organic radicals.