A method for direct contact resistance evaluation in low voltage coplanar organic field-effect transistors

Abstract

In this paper, a method for the extrapolation of contact resistance in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) from a single transfer characteristic curve in the linear regime is proposed. The method, namely DIrect Contact Resistance Extrapolation (DICRE), is based on the idea of making the current dependent only on contact resistance by setting the device in large over-threshold conditions. Constant contact resistance with respect to gate-to-source voltage is considered as an acceptable approximation, as confirmed by other examples in the literature. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated by extrapolating the contact resistance of two different OFET structures (self-aligned and not self-aligned) and comparing the results with standard reference techniques, namely the Modified Transmission Line Method (M-TLM) and the Y function method. The results demonstrate that the DICRE method can be applied to low voltage devices without any damage to the gate insulator, even if the applied gate-to-source voltage drop is well beyond the values normally employed for transistor operation. The proposed method allows extrapolating a value of contact resistance comparable with the ones derived by TLM, with restrained variability. Moreover, the capability of properly recognizing the differences in contact resistance values between OFET structures with different features in terms of source/drain-gate overlap is reported. Finally, the possibility of correctly deriving the contact resistance dependence on drain-to-source voltage using DICRE is discussed.