Polycyclic arene‐based D–A polyimide electrets for high‐performance n‐type organic field effect transistor memory devices

We report the memory characteristics of n‐type N,N′‐bis(2‐phenylethyl)‐perylene‐3,4:9,10‐tetracarboxylic diimide‐based organic field‐effect transistors (OFET) using a series of donor–acceptor (D–A) polyimide electrets of poly4,4′‐diamino‐4″‐methyltriphenylamine‐hexafluoroisopropylidenediphthal imide] ( PI(AMTPA‐6FDA) ), polyN,N‐bis‐(4‐aminophenyl)‐aminonaphthalene‐hexafluoroisopropylidenediphthalimide] ( PI(APAN‐6FDA) ), and polyN,N‐bis‐(4‐aminophenyl)‐aminopyrene‐hexafluoroisopropylidenediphthalimide] ( PI(APAP‐6FDA) ). Among the polymer electrets, the OFET memory device based on PI(APAP‐6FDA) exhibits the largest memory window of 40.63 V and the best charge retention ability (maintained for over 10⁴ s with the ON/OFF current ratio about 10³) due to introducing polycyclic arene functionality of pyrene into the electron donating moiety. With the excellent carrier delocalization, pyrene successfully enhanced the charge storage ability and sustained the CT complex. Besides, PI(APAP‐6FDA)‐based OFET memory also performed well in the write‐read‐erase‐read tests for over 100 cycles. Our finding may provide a new approach for the preparation of high performance nonvolatile OFET memories with electrets of D–A polyimide systems. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 139–147