Research on the electrical characteristics of an organic thin-film field-effect transistor based on alternating-current resistance

In this article, an organic thin-film field-effect transistor （OTFFET） with top-gate and bottom-contact geometry based on pentacene as the active layer is fabricated. The experimental data of the I-V are obtained from the OTFFET device. The alternating-current （AC） resistance value of the OTFFET device is calculated using the derivation method from the experimental data, and the AC resistance trend curves of the OTFFET device are obtained with the region fitting method. We analyse the characteristics of the OTFFET device with an AC resistance trend curve. To discover whether it has a high resistance, it is proposed to judge the region of the source/drain voltage （VDs） less than the transition voltage, thereby determining whether the contact between the metal electrode and the organic semiconductor layer of the OTFFET device is Ohmic or non-Ohmic. The theoretical analysis shows that the field-effect mobility and the AC resistance are in reverse proportion. Therefore, we point out that reducing AC resistance is necessary if field-effect mobility is to be improved.

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.

Determining the influence of ferroelectric polarization on electrical characteristics in organic ferroelectric field-effect transistors

Organic ferroelectric field-effect transistors （OFeFETs） are regarded as a promising technology for low-cost flexible memories. However, the electrical instability is still a critical obstacle, which limits the commercialization process. Based on already established models for polarization in ferroelectrics and charge transport in OFeFETs, simulation work is performed to determine the influence of polarization fatigue and ferroelectric switching transient on electrical characteristics in OFeFETs. The polarization fatigue results in the decrease of the on-state drain current and the memory window width and thus degrades the memory performance. The output measurements during the ferroelectric switching process show a hysteresis due to the instable polarization. In the on/off measurements, a large writing/erasing pulse frequency weakens the polarization modulation and thus results in a small separation between on- and off-state drain currents. According to the electrical properties of the ferroelectric layer, suggestions are given to obtain optimal electrical characterization for OFeFETs.

Mixed P3HT/PCBM Organic Thin-Film Transistors： Relation between Morphology and Electrical Characteristics

The mixed P3HT （poly（3-hexylthiophene）） and [6,6]-PCBM （phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester） organic thin films were investigated for electronic structure using UV-Vis spectrophotometer and PESA （photo-electron spectroscopy in air）. Furthermore, ESR （electron spin resonance） and AFM （atomic force microscopy） were used to investigate the surface morphology and molecular orientation, respectively. ESR analysis indicated the molecular orientation of the P3HT crystalline in the blend thin films, which the crystalline oriented normal to the substrate with distribution of 35°. AFM images indicated that the surface morphology of P3HT film was affected by the presence of PCBM nanoparticles. Solution-processed OTFTs （organic thin-film transistors） based on P3HT/PCBM blend thin film in a top source-drain contact structure was fabricated, and the electrical characteristics of the devices were also investigated. A unipolar property with p-channel characteristics were obtained in glove box measurement.

Controlled Growth of Large-Area Aligned Single-Crystalline Organic Nanoribbon Arrays for Transistors and Light-Emitting Diodes Driving

Organic field-effect transistors(OFETs) based on organic micro-/nanocrystals have been widely reported with charge carrier mobility exceeding 1.0 cm^2V^(-1)s^(-1), demonstrating great potential for high-performance, low-cost organic electronic applications. However, fabrication of large-area organic micro-/nanocrystal arrays with consistent crystal growth direction has posed a significant technical challenge. Here, we describe a solution-processed dip-coating technique to grow large-area, aligned 9,10-bis(phenylethynyl) anthracene(BPEA) and 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene(TIPSPEN) single-crystalline nanoribbon arrays. The method is scalable to a 5 9 10 cm^2 wafer substrate, with around 60% of the wafer surface covered by aligned crystals. The quality of crystals can be easily controlled by tuning the dip-coating speed. Furthermore, OFETs based on well-aligned BPEA and TIPS-PEN single-crystalline nanoribbons were constructed.By optimizing channel lengths and using appropriate metallic electrodes, the BPEA and TIPS-PEN-based OFETs showed hole mobility exceeding 2.0 cm^2V^(-1)s^(-1)(average mobility 1.2 cm^2V^(-1)s^(-1)) and 3.0 cm^2V^(-1)s^(-1)(average mobility2.0 cm^2V^(-1)s^(-1)), respectively. They both have a high on/off ratio(I_(on)/I_(off))>10~9. The performance can well satisfy the requirements for light-emitting diodes driving.

Enhanced charge carrier injection in heterojunction organic field-effect transistor by inserting an MoO_3 buffer layer

A top-contact organic field-effect transistor （OFET） is fabricated by adopting a pentacene/1,11-bis（di-4- tolylaminophenyl） cyclohexane （TAPC） heterojunction structure and inserting an MoO3 buffer layer between the TAPC organic semiconductor layer and the source/drain electrode. The performances of the heterojunction OFET, including output current, field-effect mobility, and threshed voltage~ are all significantly improved by introducing the MoO3 thin buffer layer. The performance improvement of the modified heterojunction OFET is attributed to a better contact formed at the Au/TAPC interface due to the MoO3 thin buffer layer, thereby leading to a remarkable reduction of the contact resistance at the metal/organic interface.

Hunting down the ohmic contact of organic field-effect transistor

We report properties of contact resistances observed on pentacene organic field-effect transistors(OFET) with four different source/drain electrodes, namely, copper(Cu), gold(Au), silver(Ag), and germanium(Ge). The metals were selected to provide a wide range of energy barriers for charge injection, from blocking contact to smooth injection. All OFETs exhibited strong voltage dependence of the contact resistance, even for devices with smooth injection, which is in strong disagreement with the definition of ohmic contacts. A comparison with current crowding, resistive network, Fowler–Nordheim tunneling, and electric field enhanced thermionic injection(Schottky emission) pointed to importance of local electric fields and/or electrostatic field charges.

Study of top and bottom contact resistance in one organic field-effect transistor

This paper reports that the organic field-effect transistors with hybrid contact geometry were fabricated, in which the top electrodes and the bottom electrodes were combined in parallel resistances within one transistor. With the facility of the novel structure, the difference of contact resistance between the top contact geometry and the bottom contact geometry was studied. The hybrid contact devices showed similar characteristics with the top contact configuration devices, which provide helpful evidence on the lower contact resistance of the top contact configuration device. The origin of the different contact resistance between the top contact device and the bottom contact device was discussed.

Study on characteristics of a double-conductible channel organic thin-film transistor with an ultra-thin hole-blocking layer

The properties of top-contact organic thin-film transistors （TC-OTFTs） using ultra-thin 2, 9-dimethyl-4, 7- diphenyl-1, 10-phenanthroline （BCP） as a hole-blocking interlayer have been improved significantly and a BCP interlayer was inserted into the middle of the pentacene active layer. This paper obtains a fire-new transport mode of an OTFT device with double-conductible channels. The accumulation and transfer of the hole carriers arc limited by the BCP interlayer in the vertical region of the channel. A huge amount of carriers is located not only at the interface between pentacene and the gate insulator, but also at the two interfaces of pentacene/BCP interlayer and pentacene/gate insulator, respectively. The results suggest that the BCP interlayer may be useful to adjust the hole accumulation and transfer, and can increase the hole mobility and output current of OTFTs. The TC-OTFTs with a BCP interlayer at VDS = --20 V showed excellent hole mobility μFE and threshold voltage VTH of 0.58 cm^2/（V-s） and -4.6 V, respectively.

Organic thin-film transistors and related devices in life and health monitoring

The early determination of disease-related biomarkers can significantly improve the survival rate of patients.Thus,a series of explorations for new diagnosis technologies,such as optical and electrochemical methods,have been devoted to life and health monitoring.Organic thin-film transistor(OTFT),as a state-of-the-art nano-sensing technology,has attracted significant attention from construction to application owing to the merits of being label-free,low-cost,facial,and rapid detection with multi-parameter responses.Nevertheless,interference from non-specific adsorption is inevitable in complex biological samples such as body liquid and exhaled gas,so the reliability and accuracy of the biosensor need to be further improved while ensuring sensitivity,selectivity,and stability.Herein,we overviewed the composition,mechanism,and construction strategies of OTFTs for the practical determination of disease-related biomarkers in both body fluids and exhaled gas.The results show that the realization of bio-inspired applications will come true with the rapid development of high-effective OTFTs and related devices.

Methylthio side-chain modified quinoidal benzo-[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene derivatives for high-performance ambipolar organic field-effect transistors

Quinoidal small molecule semiconductors hold huge potential in ambipolar organic field-effect transistors(OFETs)and organic spintronic devices.Here,two quinoidal molecules with methylthio side chains were synthesized to develop molecular semiconductors with high ambipolar mobility,designated QBDTS and QTBDTS.The theoretical calculation results reveal that QBDTS has a closed-shell structure while QTBDTS showed an open-shell structure with a biradical character(y0)of 0.46 and its magnetic properties were further investigated using electron paramagnetic resonance(EPR)and superconducting quantum interference device(SQUID)methods.The methyl side chains showed a large impact on the molecular orbital levels.The HOMO/LUMO levels of QBDTS and QTBDTS were measured to be-5.66/-4.56 and-5.27/-4.48 eV,respectively,which are favorable for ambipolar charge transport in OFETs.Importantly,the spin-coated QBDTS displayed hole and electron mobilities of 0.01 and 0.5 cm^(2)V^(-1)s^(-1)while QTBDTS showed a record high hole mobility of 1.8 cm^(2)V^(-1)s^(-1)and electron mobility of 0.3 cm^(2)V^(-1)s^(-1).Moreover,comparative studies of the thin film morphologies also manifested the beneficial influence of methyl side chains on film crystallinity and molecule orientation.These results strongly proved that methyl side chain engineering can be a simple but efficient strategy for modulating electronic properties and molecular stacking behaviors.This work also represents a big advancement for quinoidal molecular semiconductors in ambipolar OFET applications.

Polyethylene interfacial dielectric layer for organic semiconductor single crystal based field-effect transistors

Organic semiconductor single crystals(OSSCs) have shown their promising potential in high-performance organic field-effect transistors(OFETs). The interfacial dielectric layers are critical in these OFETs as they not only govern the key semiconductor/dielectric interface quality but also determine the growth of OSSCs by their wetting properties. However, reported interfacial dielectric layers either need rigorous preparation processes, rely on certain surface chemistry reactions, or exhibit poor solvent resistance, which limits their applications in low-cost, large-area, monolithic fabrication of OSSC-based OFETs. In this work, polyethylene(PE) thin films and lamellar single crystals are utilized as the interfacial dielectric layers, providing solvent resistive but wettable surfaces that facilitate the crystallization of 6,13-bis(tri-isopropylsilylethynyl)pentacene(TIPS-PEN) and 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)-5,7,12,14-tetraazapentacene(TIPS-TAP). As evidenced by the presence of ambipolar behavior in TIPS-PEN single crystals and the high electron mobility(2.3 ± 0.34 cm^(2)V^(-1)s^(-1)) in TIPS-TAP single crystals, a general improvement on electron transport with PE interfacial dielectric layers is revealed, which likely associates with the chemically inertness of the saturated C-H bonds. With the advantages in both processing and device operation, the PE interfacial dielectric layer potentially offers a monolithic way for the enhancement of electron transport in solution-processed OSSC-based OFETs.

Interfacial molecular screening of polyimide dielectric towards high-performance organic field-effect transistors

The compatibility of the gate dielectrics with semiconductors is vital for constructing efficient conducting channel for high charge transport.However,it is still a highly challenging mission to clearly clarify the relationship between the dielectric layers and the chemical structure of semiconductors,especially vacuum-deposited small molecules.Here,interfacial molecular screening of polyimide(Kapton)dielectric in organic field-effect transistors(OFETs)is comprehensively studied.It is found that the semiconducting small molecules with alkyl side chains prefer to form a high-quality charge transport layer on polyimide(PI)dielectrics compared with the molecules without alkyl side chains.On this basis,the fabricated transistors could reach the mobility of 1.2 cm^(2) V^(−1)s^(−1) the molecule with alkyl side chains on bare PI dielectric.What is more,the compatible semiconductor and dielectric would further produce a low activation energy(E_(A))of 3.01 meV towards efficient charge transport even at low temperature(e.g.,100 K,0.9 cm^(2) V^(−1)s^(−1)).Our research provides a guiding scheme for the construction of high-performance thin-film field-effect transistors based on PI dielectric layer at room and low temperatures.

Metal–Organic Framework-Based Sensors for Environmental Contaminant Sensing

Increasing demand for timely and accurate environmental pollution monitoring and control requires new sensing techniques with outstanding performance, i.e.,high sensitivity, high selectivity, and reliability. Metal–organic frameworks(MOFs), also known as porous coordination polymers, are a fascinating class of highly ordered crystalline coordination polymers formed by the coordination of metal ions/clusters and organic bridging linkers/ligands. Owing to their unique structures and properties,i.e., high surface area, tailorable pore size, high density of active sites, and high catalytic activity, various MOF-based sensing platforms have been reported for environmental contaminant detection including anions, heavy metal ions,organic compounds, and gases. In this review, recent progress in MOF-based environmental sensors is introduced with a focus on optical, electrochemical, and field-effect transistor sensors. The sensors have shown unique and promising performance in water and gas contaminant sensing. Moreover, by incorporation with other functional materials, MOF-based composites can greatly improve the sensor performance. The current limitations and future directions of MOF-based sensors are also discussed.

A high mobility C_(60) field-effect transistor with an ultrathin pentacene passivation layer and bathophenanthroline/metal bilayer electrodes

C60 field-effect transistor （OFET） with a mobility as high as 5.17 cm2/V.s is fabricated. In our experiment, an ultrathin pentacene passivation layer on poly-（methyl methacrylate） （PMMA） insulator and a bathophenanthroline （Bphen）/Ag bilayer electrode are prepared. The OFET shows a significant enhancement of electron mobility compared with the corresponding device with a single PMMA insultor and an Ag electrode. By analysing the C60 film with atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques, it is shown that the pentacene passivation layer can contribute to C60 film growth with the large grain size and significantly improve crystallinity. Moreover, the Bphen buffer layer can reduce the electron contact barrier from Ag electrodes to C60 film efficiently.

High mobility organic semiconductors for field-effect transistors

Organic field-effect transistors(OFETs) are attracting more and more attention due to their potential applications in low-cost, large-area and flexible electronic products. Organic semiconductors(OSCs) are the key components of OFETs and basically determine the device performance. The past five years have witnessed great progress of OSCs. OSCs used for OFETs have made rapid progress, with field-effect mobility much larger than that of amorphous silicon(0.5?1.0 cm2/(V s)) and of up to 10 cm2/(V s) or even higher. In this review, we demonstrate the latest progress of OSCs for OFETs, where more than 50 representative OSCs are highlighted and analyzed to give some valuable insights for this important but challenging field.

Monolayer organic field-effect transistors

Monolayer organic field-effect transistors(OFETs) are attracting worldwide interest in device physics and novel applications due to their ultrathin active layer for two-dimensional charge transport. The monolayer films are generally prepared by thermal evaporation, the Langmuir technique or self-assembly process, etc., but their electrical performance is relatively lower than corresponding thick films. From 2011, the performance of monolayer OFETs has been boosted by using the monolayer molecular crystals(MMCs) as active channels, which opened up a new era for monolayer OFETs. In this review, recent progress of monolayer OFETs, including the preparation of monolayer films, their OFET performance and applications are summarized.Finally, perspectives of monolayer OFETs in the near future are also discussed.

Advances in organic field-effect transistors and integrated circuits

Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) have received significant research interest because of their promising applications in low cast, lager area, plastic circuits, and tremendous progress has been made in materials, device performance, OFETs based circuits in recent years. In this article we introduce the advances in organic semiconductor materials, OFETs based integrating techniques, and in particular highlight the recent progress. Finally, the prospects and problems of OFETs are discussed.

Alignment and patterning of organic single crystals for field-effect transistors

Organic field-effect transistors are of great importance to electronic devices.With the emergence of various preparation techniques for organic semiconductor materials,the device performance has been improved remarkably.Among all of the organic materials,single crystals are potentially promising for high performances due to high purity and well-ordered molecular arrangement.Based on organic single crystals,alignment and patterning techniques are essential for practical industrial application of electronic devices.In this review,recently developed methods for crystal alignment and patterning are described.

An isoindigo-bithiazole-based acceptor-acceptor copolymer for balanced ambipolar organic thin-film transistors

Balanced carrier transport is observed in acceptor-acceptor （A-A＇） type polymer for ambipolar organic thin-film transistors （OTFTs）. It is found that the incorporation of two electron-accepting moieties （BTz and IIG） into a polymer main chain to form A-A＇ polymer PIIG-BTz could lower highest occupied molecular orbital （HOMO） and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital （LUMO） levels and facilitate good molecular stacking of the polymer. Ambipolar transistor behaviour for PIIG-BTz, with the balanced hole and electron mobilities of 0.030 and 0.022 cm2 V 1 s-i was observed in OTFT devices, respectively. The study in this work reveals that the utilization of acceptor-acceptor （A-A＇） structure in polymer main chain can be a feasible strategy to develop ambipolar polymer semiconductors.