Extracting parameters from the current-voltage characteristics of polycrystalline octithiophene thin film field-effect transistors

Abstract

Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) in which the active semiconductor is made of polycrystalline octithiophene (8T) were fabricated and characterized. Several methods have been used to extract the parameters of the polycrystalline (8T) transistors as function of gate voltage at room and at low temperatures. These parameters such as the mobility, the threshold voltage, contact resistance and density of traps are extracted from the current-voltage characteristics of OFETs. The first method consists of deriving the drain current as function of gate voltage (transconductance), leading to the so-colled field effect mobility. It appears that the data must be corrected for the substantial source and drain contact resistance. In the second method, the carrier mobility has been corrected for the contact resistance. It is found to increase quasi linearly with gate voltage. Therefore, the contact resistances have been directly extracted from the experimental channel conductance. In the third method, data are interpreted according the multiple thermal trapping and release model using a power law dependence of the mobility with gate voltage together with a constant resistance. Finally, using a model where charge transport is limited by trapping and thermal release at localized states located at grain boundaries, the barrier height at grain boundaries in polycrystalline octhithiophene FETs has been estimated. It is shown that is gate bias dependent.