Organic Thin Film Transistors based on Pentacene and PTCDI as the Active Layer and LiF as the Insulating Layer

Abstract

AbstractDue to the advantages of low production cost, flexibility and low temperature fabrication, much effort has been devoted to the development of organic electronic devices such as light emitting diodes, photovoltaics and transistors. Organic thin film transistors have several important applications such as switching devices for active-matrix OLED displays, smart cards, identification tags and sensors [1-3]. However, the low carrier mobility in organic materials and the difficulty of integrating organic devices into inorganic processing procedures have hindered the development of organic transistors that are comparable to traditional transistors [4]. Much effort has been devoted to develop new organic materials with higher carrier mobility, while retaining the same conventional inorganic metal-oxide-semiconductor structures.Lithium fluoride (LiF) has the largest band gap and the largest negative electron affinity of any solid, [5] making it a superb candidate for use in the insulating layer of transistors. Using LiF as the gate dielectric layer can facilitate the organic transistor fabrication. In this work, thin film transistors based on pentacene and PTCDI-C8 (N,N′-Dioctyl-3,4,9,10-perylenedicarboximide) as organic semiconductor layers and LiF as gate dielectrics are studied. The electrical properties of these devices have been investigated in atmospheric conditions and under variable light exposure. Output and transfer characteristics of several photo-responsive thin film transistors using different organic materials but with the same insulating layer will be presented and the increase of drain-source current upon illumination will be discussed based on the photoconduction properties of the transistor active layer.