Organic field-effect transistors

The paper reviews the recent year publications concerning organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). A lot of works have been performed to help understanding the structural and electrical properties of materials used to construct OFETs. It has been established that in partially ordered systems, the charge transport mechanism is thermally activated and field-assisted hopping transport and the hopping transport between disorder-induced localized states dominate over intrinsic polaronic hopping transport seen in organic single crystals. Many research attempts have been carried out on the design of air-stable organic semiconductors with a solution process which is capable of producing OFETs with excellent properties and good stability when subjected to multiple testing cycles and under continuous electrical bias. Recent experiments have demonstrated ambipolar channel conduction and light emission in conjugated polymer FETs. These achievements are the basis for construction of OLED based displays driven by active matrix consisting of OFETs.     

Vacuum relaxation and annealing-induced enhancement of mobility of regioregular poly（3-hexylthiophene） field-effect transistors

In order to enhance the performance of regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (RR-P3HT) field-effect transistors (FETs), RR-P3HT FETs are prepared by the spin-coating method followed by vacuum placement and annealing. This paper reports that the crystal structure, the molecule interconnection, the surface morphology, and the charge carrier mobility of RR-P3HT films are affected by vacuum relaxation and annealing. The results reveal that the field-effect mobility of RR-P3HT FETs can reach 4.17×10^ - 2~m²/(V.s) by vacuum relaxation at room temperature due to an enhanced local self-organization. Furthermore, it reports that an appropriate annealing temperature can facilitate the crystal structure, the orientation and the interconnection of polymer molecules. These results show that the field-effect mobility of device annealed at 150~℃ for 10 minutes in vacuum at atmosphere and followed by placement for 20 hours in vacuum at room temperature is enhanced dramatically to 9.00×10^ - 2 ~cm²/(V.s).     

Voltage-induced metal-insulator transition in polythiophene field-effect transistors

We have extensively studied the carrier transport in regio-regular polythiophene field-effect transistors (FETs) from room temperature to 4.2 K. At low temperatures, Zabrodskii plots (dlnsigma/dlnT) demonstrate that the gate voltage and source-drain voltage combine to induce the insulator-to-metal transition at a carrier density of 5x10(12) cm-2. The carrier transport in the insulating regime is well described by phonon assisted hopping in a disordered Fermi glass with Coulomb interaction between the hopping charge carrier and the opposite charge left behind, as described by Efros and Shklovskii.     

衬底温度对TiOPc光敏有机场效应管的影响

制备了基于酞菁氧钛(TiOPc)的有机光敏场效应管,对氧化铟锡(ITO)衬底器件进行温度优化。实验结果表明,随着衬底温度(T_(sub))的增加,器件载流子迁移率(μ)、光暗电流比(P)和光响应度(R)先增加后减小,在T_(sub)=140℃时达到最大。T_(sub)=140℃的ITO衬底器件,在波长808 nm、光功率密度190 m W·cm~(-2)的近红外光照下,最大载流子迁移率达到1.35×10~(-2)cm~2·V~(-1)·s~(-1),最大光暗电流比为250,栅压为-50 V时的最大光响应度为1.51 m A/W。     

Intrinsic charge transport on the surface of organic semiconductors

The air-gap field-effect technique enabled realization of the intrinsic (not limited by static disorder) polaronic transport on the surface of rubrene (C42H28) crystals over a wide temperature range. The signatures of this intrinsic transport are the anisotropy of the carrier mobility, mu, and the growth of mu with cooling. Anisotropy of mu vanishes in the activation regime at low temperatures, where the transport is dominated by shallow traps. The deep traps, introduced by x-ray radiation, increase the field-effect threshold without affecting mu, an indication that the filled traps do not scatter polarons.     

Free-standing tetracene single crystal field effect transistor

We have fabricated and studied field effect transistors (FETs) on the optically transparent free-standing organic single crystals of tetracene. These FETs exhibit effective hole channel mobility μ_eff up to 0.15 cm²/Vs and on-off ratios up to 2×10⁷. Using measured values of μ_eff, thermal activation energy, and a simple model, we deduce an intrinsic free carrier mobility in the range of tens of cm²/Vs, similar to that found in pentacene crystals. These values should be considered only as a rough indication of achievable mobilities in samples much purer than those presently studied. The obtained results show the possibility of FET behavior in transparent crystals with low intrinsic carrier density.     

Thickness dependence of surface morphology and charge carrier mobility in organic field-effect transistors

With the aim of understanding the relationships between organic small molecule field-effect transistors (FETs) and organic conjugated polymer FETs, we investigate the thickness dependence of surface morphology and charge carrier mobility in pentacene and regioregular poly (3-hexylthiophene) (RR-P3HT) field-effect transistors. On the basis of the results of surface morphologies and electrical properties, we presume that the charge carrier mobility is largely related to the morphology of the organic active layer. We observe that the change trends of the surface morphologies (average size and average roughness) of pentacene and RR-P3HT thin films are mutually opposite, as the thickness of the organic layer increases. Further, we demonstrate that the change trends of the field-effect mobilities of pentacene and RR-P3HT FETs are also opposite to each other, as the thickness of the organic layer increases within its limit.     

有机场效应晶体管的非线性注入模型

有机场效应晶体管(Organic field effect transistor,OFET)的非线性特性是指其输出特性曲线在较低的漏极电压下出现类似于二极管的电压电流特性曲线,这种现象在有机场效应晶体管的实验研究中极为常见。Simonetti等通过引入随栅极电压变化的迁移率提出了模型并成功解释了这一现象,但实验中从器件转移特性得出的迁移率通常与栅极电压无关。本文通过引入常数迁移率对该模型进行改进,运用改进的模型研究了影响OFET非线性特性的主要因素,并对如何更加准确地获得器件参数进行了探究。     

Identification of grain boundaries as degradation site in n‐channel organic field‐effect transistors determined via conductive atomic force microscopy

One important figure of merit for the commercial usability of organic transistors (OFETs) is their electrical stability. With the aim of identifying the microscopic location of degradation sites within a transistor channel, we have investigated the bias stress stability of OFETs by electrical measurements as well as by conductive atomic force microscopy. Air‐stable n‐channel FETs based on a N,N′‐bis(2‐ethylhexyl)‐1,7(1,6)‐dicyano‐perylene[3,4:9,10]bis (dicarboximide) were fabricated to understand the relation between the thin‐film morphology, the substrate temperature during the vacuum de position with the aim to fabricate transistors with a mobility not dominated by interface traps. The devices showed a maximum carrier mobility of (0.12 ± 0.01) cm²/V s and an on/off ratio up to 10⁷. The electrical performance as well as the bias stress behavior of the semiconductor thin‐films is significantly influenced by grain boundaries. For example, the grain boundary resistance was found to increase upon electrical stress by more than 150% (from 2 ± 0.2 GΩ to 5 ± 1.5 GΩ), while the resistance within the grains remains unchanged. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Effects of concentration and annealing on the performance of regioregular poly（3-hexylthiophene） field-effect transistors

This paper investigates the effects of concentration on the crystalline structure, the morphology, and the charge carrier mobility of regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (RR-P3HT) field-effect transistors (FETs). The RR-P3HT FETs with RR-P3HT as an active layer with different concentrations of RR-P3HT solution from 0.5~wt% to 2~wt% are prepared. The results indicate that the performance of RR-P3HT FETs improves drastically with the increase of RR-P3HT weight percentages in chloroform solution due to the formation of more microcrystalline lamellae and bigger nanoscale islands. It finds that the field-effect mobility of RR-P3HT FET with 2~wt% can reach 5.78× 10^-3~cm²/Vs which is higher by a factor of 13 than that with 0.5~wt%. Further, an appropriate thermal annealing is adopted to improve the performance of RR-P3HT FETs. The field-effect mobility of RR-P3HT FETs increases drastically to 0.09~cm²/Vs by thermal annealing at 150~℃, and the value of on/off current ratio can reach 10^4.     

Air-stable ambipolar organic field effect transistors with heterojunction of pentacene and N,N'-bis(4-trifluoromethylben-zyl)perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide

Fabrication of ambipolar organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) is essential for the achievement of an organic complementary logic circuit. Ambipolar transports in OFETs with heterojunction structures are realized. We select pentacene as a P-type material and N,N'-bis(4-trifluoromethylben-zyl)perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI-TFB) as a n-type material in the active layer of the OFETs. The field-effect transistor shows highly air-stable ambipolar characteristics with a field-effect hole mobility of 0.18~cm²/(V.s) and field-effect electron mobility of 0.031~cm²/(V.s). Furthermore the mobility only slightly decreases after being exposed to air and remains stable even for exposure to air for more than 60 days. The high electron affinity of PTCDI-TFB and the octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) self-assembly monolayer between the SiO₂ gate dielectric and the organic active layer result in the observed air-stable characteristics of OFETs with high mobility. The results demonstrate that using the OTS as a modified gate insulator layer and using high electron affinity semiconductor materials are two effective methods to fabricate OFETs with air-stable characteristics and high mobility.     

Ta2O5-PMMA复合栅绝缘层对OFETs性能的影响

选用五氧化二钽（Ta₂O₅）-聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯（PMMA）复合材料作为栅绝缘层制备了并五苯有机场效应晶体管（OFETs）。通过在Ta₂O₅表面旋涂一层PMMA可以降低栅绝缘层的表面粗糙度,增大其场效应晶体管的迁移率。研究了厚度在20~60 nm范围内的PMMA对复合绝缘层表面形貌、粗糙度以及器件电学性能的影响。结果表明,当PMMA厚度为40 nm时,器件的电学性能最佳。与单一的Ta₂O₅栅绝缘层器件相比,其场效迁移率由4.2×10^-2 cm²/（V·s）提高到0.31 cm²/（V·s）;栅电压增加到-20 V时,开关电流比由2.9×10²增大到2.9×10⁵。     

Dynamic characterization of charge transport in organic and polymer transistors

In this paper we describe three methods that can be used to measure the transient response of organic and polymer field-effect transistors (FETs) and also how such measurements can be used to determine the drift mobility and velocity. The first method measures the response of a FET to a step voltage applied to the source with the gate grounded and the drain held at close to ground, while the second uses a ramp input to the source. The third technique evaluates the frequency response of the FET, connected as a diode, to a large-signal alternating voltage. We show that important information can be obtained from such measurements which can be quantitatively interpreted with the help of models that we are developing. In general, there is good agreement between the drift mobility measured with these approaches and the field-effect mobility calculated from transistor output and transfer characteristics. The specific results we present in this paper are for pentacene devices; however, other recent work by our group indicates that these results are more general.     

Charge carrier mobility in sulphonated and non-sulphonated Ni phthalocyanines: experiment and quantum chemical calculations

The objective of this interdisciplinary paper was to study theoretically and experimentally the electronic part of charge carrier transport in the class of sodium salts of sulphonated Ni phthalocyanine as candidates for p-type channels in organic field-effect transistors. These materials were selected because of their enhanced solubility as compared to their non-sulphonated counterparts. The values of the field-effect charge carrier mobility determined on the OFET structures using NiPc(SO₃Na)_x films were much higher than the charge carrier mobility obtained on the respective device prepared from non-substituted phthalocyanine. In order to explain differences between charge carrier mobility of sulphonated and non-sulphonated Ni phthalocyanines, quantum chemistry studies of molecular aggregates were performed. Quantum chemistry modeling of the semiconductive molecular systems is new and progressive – we highlighted factors at the molecular level which led to the enhancement of the charge carrier mobility in systems containing SO₃Na groups.     

聚3-己基噻吩-b-聚十六烷氧基联烯嵌段聚合物的制备及其场效应性能

以溴代十六烷、丙炔醇为原料通过取代反应、还原重排反应制备了十六烷氧基联烯,然后以氯化(三环己基膦)镍作为催化剂,通过控制加料顺序一锅制备了聚3-己基噻吩-b-聚十六烷氧基联烯的嵌段聚合物。通过核磁共振氢谱和体积排除色谱对产物进行了表征和确证。对聚3-己基噻吩-b-聚十六烷氧基联烯嵌段聚合物的热学性能、光学性能及电学性能进行了研究。差示扫描量热法和热重分析结果表明,嵌段共聚物具有两个玻璃化转变温度及两个热分解温度,说明其具有明显相分离。以嵌段共聚物为半导体活性材料,制备了场效应晶体管器件。使用热退火对器件进行热处理,发现迁移率随退火温度的上升而提高。器件在200℃退火温度下的平均迁移率为7.03×10~(-4)cm~2·V~(-1)·s~(-1),最大迁移率为1.3×10~(-3)cm~2·V~(-1)·s~(-1),阈值电压为5.44 V。     

Improving organic field-effect transistors based on double active layers structure

Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) were fabricated based on double active layers structure. Different substrate temperatures and thermal treatment were adopted to prepare double active layers and optimize film morphology. The grain size of organic films can be effectively controlled by the change in substrate temperature in the process of deposition. An improved device performance was obtained compared with conventional single layer devices. This result is attributed to the introduction of double active layers. We believe that this kind of optimization will simultaneously improve charge injection and transportation of OFETs.     

Organic film thickness influence on the bias stress instability in?sexithiophene field effect transistors

In this paper, the dynamics of bias stress phenomenon in Sexithiophene (T6) Field Effect Transistors (FETs) has been investigated. T6 FETs have been fabricated by vacuum depositing films with thickness from 10 to 130 nm on Si/SiO₂ substrates. After the T6 film structural analysis by X-ray diffraction and the FET electrical investigation focused on carrier mobility evaluation, bias stress instability parameters have been estimated and discussed in the context of existing models. By increasing the film thickness, a clear correlation between the stress parameters and the structural properties of the organic layer has been highlighted. Conversely, the mobility values as a result are found to be almost thickness independent.     

Performance Improvement in Hydrogenated Few-Layer Black Phosphorus Field-Effect Transistors

A capping layer for black phosphorus(BP) field-effect transistors(FETs) can provide effective isolation from the ambient air; however, this also brings inconvenience to the post-treatment for optimizing devices. We perform low-temperature hydrogenation on Al_2 O_3 capped BP FETs. The hydrogenated BP devices exhibit a pronounced improvement of mobility from 69.6 to 107.7 cm~2 v~(-1) s~(-1), and a dramatic decrease of subthreshold swing from8.4 to 2.6 V/dec. Furthermore, high/low frequency capacitance-voltage measurements suggest reduced interface defects in hydrogenated BP FETs. This could be due to the passivation of interface traps at both Al_2 O_3/BP and BP/SiO_2 interfaces with hydrogen revealed by secondary ion mass spectroscopy.     

低温下二硫化钼电子迁移率研究

二硫化钼(MoS₂)是已知的二维半导体材料中光电性能最优秀的材料之一. 单原子层厚的MoS₂是禁带宽度为1.8 eV 的二维直接带隙半导体材料, 可以用来发展新型的纳米电子器件和光电功能器件. 本论文利用玻尔兹曼平衡方程输运理论研究低温时MoS₂系统的电输运性质, 计算得到了MoS₂电子迁移率的解析表达式. 研究发现, 低温时MoS₂ 的迁移率与衬底材料的介电常数的平方成正比; 与系统的电子浓度对带电杂质的浓度的比率n_e/n_i 成线性关系. 因此, 选用介电常数高的衬底材料, 适当提高MoS₂系统的载流子浓度, 同时降低杂质的浓度, 可以有效提高MoS₂系统的迁移率. 研究结果为探索以MoS₂为基础的新型纳米光电器件的研究和实际应用提供了理论依据. 关键词： 二硫化钼 迁移率 电输运 平衡方程     

Scattering mechanisms of charge carriers in transparent conducting oxide films

Scattering mechanisms of charge carriers in Transparent Conducting Oxide (TCO) films have been analyzed theoretically. For the degenerate polycrystalline TCO films with relatively large crystallite sizes and high carrier concentrations (higher than 5 × 10¹⁸ cm^–3), the depletion layers between crystallites are very thin compared to the crystallite sizes, and the grain boundary scattering on electrical carriers makes a small contribution to limit the mobility of the films. Instead of thermionic emission current, a tunneling current dominates the electron transport over grain boundaries. The Petritz model which is based on thermionic emission and extensively quoted in literature should not be applicable. The main scattering mechanisms for the TCO films are ionized impurity scattering in the low-temperature range and lattice vibration scattering in the high-temperature range. The ionized impurity scattering mobility is independent of temperature and the mobility due to thermal lattice vibration scattering is inversely proportional to the temperature. The results obtained from Hall measurements on our ZnO, ITO, SnO₂ and SnO₂:F films prepared with various methods supports the analysis.