Physical modeling of charge transport in conjugated polymer field-effect transistors

Abstract

Conjugated polymer field-effect transistors are expected to have considerable potential for widespread use in various applications such as flexible displays, low-cost radio-frequency tags and functional sensors for healthcare systems due to their mechanical flexibility and printing-based low-cost processability on flexible plastic substrates. Therefore, they have witnessed remarkable progress over the last three decades. However, further development of polymer field-effect transistors remains hampered because the charge transport occurring in the active semiconducting polymer layers has not been understood adequately and the device physics has not yet been established completely. This topical review summarizes the physical charge transport models of polymer semiconductors that have been proposed so far and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each model. Accordingly, the process of analyzing the experimental results by employing the appropriate physical charge transport model is investigated to ultimately facilitate the rational design of advanced semiconducting polymers as well as the fabrication of enhanced organic devices.