The Electrical Properties of Plasma-Deposited Thin Films Derived from Pelargonium graveolens

Ahmed Al-Jumaili,Surjith Alancherry,Mohan Jacob,Kateryna Bazaka

doi:10.3390/electronics6040086

Ahmed Al-Jumaili, Surjith Alancherry + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics6040086

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Abstract

Inherently volatile at atmospheric pressure and room temperature, plant-derived precursors present an interesting human-health-friendly precursor for the chemical vapour deposition of thin films. The electrical properties of films derived from Pelargonium graveolens (geranium) were investigated in metal–insulator–metal (MIM) structures. Thin polymer-like films were deposited using plasma-enhanced synthesis under various plasma input power. The J–V characteristics of thus-fabricated MIM were then studied in order to determine the direct current (DC) conduction mechanism of the plasma polymer layers. It was found that the capacitance of the plasma-deposited films decreases at low frequencies (C ≈ 10−11) and remains at a relatively constant value (C ≈ 10−10) at high frequencies. These films also have a low dielectric constant across a wide range of frequencies that decreases as the input RF power increases. The conductivity was determined to be around 10−16–10−17 Ω−1 m−1, which is typical for insulating materials. The Richardson–Schottky mechanism might dominate charge transport in the higher field region for geranium thin films.

Highlights

Polymer thin films gained broad research interest in paving the way for low-cost engineering of large-area flexible electronic devices
Among different polymers investigated for organic electronics, conducting polymers are used as electrodes and contacts for charge transporting [1], semiconducting polymers are employed as active layers in organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) [2] and organic photovoltaics (OPVs) [3], and insulating polymers are used as dielectric layers in OTFTs [4]
Much attention has been paid to the development of insulating polymers to replace the conventional gate dielectric materials, mostly silicon dioxide (k ~ 4), to realise flexible thin film transistors (TFTs) with a low operating voltage and high mobility [5,6]

Summary

Introduction

Polymer thin films gained broad research interest in paving the way for low-cost engineering of large-area flexible electronic devices. The major challenge is to identify a cheap and abundant material and an appropriate method to transform them into polymers, ensuring a low cost, complementary properties, and a better life-cycle assessment [28] In this regard, plasma-assisted deposition gained considerable interest as plasma provides a highly reactive environment that enables the simple and efficient conversion of bio-renewable resources into diverse structures from simple polymers to advanced carbon nanostructures [29,30,31,32]. It is important to further investigate the extent to which the multi-component nature of the oil, in this study the Pelargonium graveolens (geranium essential oil), affects the electrical (geranium essential oil), affects the electrical properties, such as the dielectric constant and conductivity, of the polymer thin films synthesized under varied input RF power

Experimental

Discussion

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