The application of pentacene and its derivatives in organic field-effect transistors

Abstract

Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), employing organic semiconductor as active layer, is a kind of electronic device in which the source-drain conductivity is controlled by electrical field. In comparison with conventional inorganic transistors, OFETs have attracted extensive attention due to their potential applications in large area, flexible and low-cost optoelectronic devices, such as organic memory elements, organic solar cell, flexible flat panel displays, and electronic papers. Acenes, by virtue of their tight solid state packing and superior properties, has been widely studied as semiconducting materials in OFETs. For example, pentacene has drawn great attention because it shows outstanding mobility as a p-type semiconducting material. Although the mobility of pentacene can even rival amorphous silicon, the poor solubility in organic solvents and low environmental stability indeed blocked its way for further application. A lot of modification works on acenes has been done in order to improve the stability, enhance the electrical performance, and increase the solubility. As a result, a series of pentacene derivatives has been demonstrated. In this paper, we covered a wide range of pentacene and its derivatives with focus on their applications in OFETs. We expect that this summary will provide guidelines for further research.