High-performance Organic Transistors Research Articles

Direct self-assembled monolayers treatment on the polar polymer dielectric towards ultra-flexible organic field-effect transistors

• A direct SAM treatment on the polar polymer gate dielectric without any preprocess is introduced. • A hysteresis-free OFET with a high mobility of 1.51 cm 2 V −1 s −1 was achieved. • An ultra-flexible OFET was fabricated and presented a stable electrical performance under deformations. Surface treatment for the polymer gate dielectric plays a significant role in achieving the high-performance flexible field-effect transistors. In this work, the direct SAM treatment on the polar polymer gate dielectric is introduced and the effects on the electrical performance of OFETs are investigated. After an appropriate SAM treatment for the polar polymer dielectric, the mobility can be improved and the hysteresis and interfacial trap states are decreased obviously. Moreover, the SAM treated polymer dielectric is used to achieve the ultra-flexible OFET successfully, with a stable electrical performance under various deformations. These results demonstrate that the direct SAM treatment on polar polymer dielectric is a promising strategy for the high-performance flexible organic transistors, presenting the huge potential for the next-generation flexible electronics.

High Performance Organic Electrochemical Transistors and Logic Circuits Manufactured via a Combination of Screen and Aerosol Jet Printing Techniques

AbstractThis work demonstrates a novel fabrication approach based on the combination of screen and aerosol jet printing to manufacture fully printed organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) and OECT‐based logic circuits on PET substrates with superior performances. The use of aerosol jet printing allows for a reduction of the channel width to ≈15 µm and the estimated volume by a factor of ≈40, compared to the fully screen printed OECTs. Hence, the OECT devices and OECT‐based logic circuits fabricated with the proposed approach emerge with a high ON/OFF ratio (103–104) and remarkably fast switching response, reaching an ON/OFF ratio of >103 in 4–8 ms, which is further demonstrated by a propagation delay time of just above 1 ms in OECT‐based logic inverter circuits operated at a frequency of 100 Hz. All‐printed monolithically integrated OECT‐based five‐stage ring oscillator circuits further validated the concept with a resulting self‐oscillation frequency of 60 Hz.

Highly stretchable organic electrochemical transistors with strain-resistant performance.

Realizing fully stretchable electronic materials is central to advancing new types of mechanically agile and skin-integrable optoelectronic device technologies. Here we demonstrate a materials design concept combining an organic semiconductor film with a honeycomb porous structure with biaxially prestretched platform that enables high-performance organic electrochemical transistors with a charge transport stability over 30-140% tensional strain, limited only by metal contact fatigue. The prestretched honeycomb semiconductor channel of donor-acceptor polymer poly(2,5-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-3,6-di(thiophen-2-yl)-2,5-diketo-pyrrolopyrrole-alt-2,5-bis(3-triethyleneglycoloxy-thiophen-2-yl) exhibits high ion uptake and completely stable electrochemical and mechanical properties over 1,500 redox cycles with 104 stretching cycles under 30% strain. Invariant electrocardiogram recording cycles and synapse responses under varying strains, along with mechanical finite element analysis, underscore that the present stretchable organic electrochemical transistor design strategy is suitable for diverse applications requiring stable signal output under deformation with low power dissipation and mechanical robustness.

Efficient Fabrication of Organic Electrochemical Transistors via Wet Chemical Processing.

A wet processing method to fabricate high-performance organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) is reported. Wet chemical processing enables a simple and reliable patterning step, substituting several complex and expensive cleanroom procedures in the fabrication of OECTs. We fabricate depletion-mode OECTs based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) and enhancement-mode OECTs based on a conjugated polyelectrolyte PCPDTBT-SO3K on rigid and flexible substrates using this wet processing method. We show that the wet chemical processing step can also serve as a chemical treatment to enhance the electrical properties of the active material in OECTs. To highlight the potential of the fabrication process in applications, a transistor-based chemical sensor is demonstrated, capable of detecting methylene blue, a popular redox reporter in biodetection and immunoassays, with good detectivity. Given the tremendous potential of OECTs in emerging technologies such as biosensing and neuromorphic computing, this simple fabrication process established herein will render the OECT platform more accessible for research and applications.

Facilely Accessible Porous Conjugated Polymers toward High-Performance and Flexible Organic Electrochemical Transistors

Facilely Accessible Porous Conjugated Polymers toward High-Performance and Flexible Organic Electrochemical Transistors

Organic photoelectrochemical transistor detection of tear lysozyme

A high-performance organic photoelectrochemical transistor (OPECT) is developed by synergizing a light-sensitive aptamer/CdS QDs/Ti wire gate photoanode with a PEDOT:PSS-based device towards detection of the tear biomarker lysozyme.

High-Performance Ion-Selective Organic Electrochemical Transistors for the Determination of Potassium in Clinical Samples

High-Performance Ion-Selective Organic Electrochemical Transistors for the Determination of Potassium in Clinical Samples

Asymmetric Hybrid Siloxane Side Chains for Enhanced Mobility and Mechanical Properties of Diketopyrrolopyrrole-Based Polymers.

High performance organic field effect transistor devices based on intrinsically scalable materials are of great significance in wearable electronics. In this work, an exclusive approach is reported to rationale the carrier mobility and stretchability of the conjugate polymers (CPs) by modifying the symmetry of the side chains species. Semiconductor CPs with symmetrical alkyl side chains (P(C-C)), symmetrical siloxane side chains (P(Si-Si)), and asymmetrical silicon-carbon side chains (P(C-Si)) are synthesized to investigate the influence of these side chains on the carrier mobility and mechanical behavior. The result shows that silicon-carbon asymmetric side chains can modulate the aggregation degree of polymer chains with a coherence length of 134 Å and maintain the mobility at 0.90 cm2 V-1 s-1 . P(C-Si) exhibits superior tensile properties that even elongation up to 100% the value of mobility retains a majority properties. The main reason is that the lowest coherence length of P(C-Si) polymer leads to an increased proportion of amorphous zones in its polymer film, which efficiently dissipates mechanical stresses. This study provides an efficient strategy for the design and synthesis of the CPs with high carrier transport properties-mechanical stability.

50.3: Invited Paper: High performance organic field effect transistors: from fabrication parameters to novel applications

50.3: <i>Invited Paper:</i> High performance organic field effect transistors: from fabrication parameters to novel applications

Designing Donor-Acceptor Copolymers for Stable and High-Performance Organic Electrochemical Transistors.

Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are oft-used for bioelectronic applications, and a variety of OECT channel materials have been developed in recent years. However, the majority of these materials are still limited by long-term performance and stability challenges. To resolve these issues, we implemented a next-generation design of polymers for OECTs. Specifically, diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) building blocks were copolymerized with propylene dioxythiophene-based (Pro-based) monomers to create a donor-acceptor-type conjugated polymer (PProDOT-DPP). These PProDOT-DPP macromolecules were synthesized using a straightforward direct arylation polymerization synthetic route. The PProDOT-DPP polymer thin film exhibited excellent electrochemical response, low oxidation potential, and high crystallinity, as evidenced by spectroelectrochemical measurements and grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering measurements. Thus, the resultant polymer thin films had high charge mobility and volumetric capacitance values (i.e., μC* as high as 310 F cm-1 V-1 s-1) when they were used as the active layer materials in OECT devices, which places PProDOT-DPP among the highest performing accumulation-mode OECT polymers reported to date. The performance of the PProDOT-DPP thin films was also retained for 100 cycles and over 2000 s of ON-OFF cycling, indicating the robust stability of the materials. Therefore, this effort provides a clear roadmap for the design of electrochemically active macromolecules for accumulation-mode OECTs, where crystalline acceptor cores are incorporated into an all-donor polymer. We anticipate that this will ultimately inspire future polymer designs to enable OECTs with both high electrical performance and operational stability.

Bulk versus Contact Doping in Organic Semiconductors.

This study presents a comparative theoretical analysis of different doping schemes in organic semiconductor devices. Especially, an in-depth investigation into bulk and contact doping methods is conducted, focusing on their direct impact on the terminal characteristics of field-effect transistors. We use experimental data from a high-performance undoped organic transistor to prepare a base simulation framework and carry out a series of predictive simulations with various position- and density-dependent doping conditions. Bulk doping is shown to offer an overall effective current modulation, while contact doping proves to be rather useful to overcome high-barrier contacts. We additionally demonstrate the concept of selective channel doping as an alternative and establish a critical understanding of device performances associated with the key electrostatic features dictated by interfaces and applied voltages.

High-Performance Vertical Organic Transistors of Sub-5 nm Channel Length.

Miniaturization of electronic circuits increases their overall performance. So far, electronics based on organic semiconductors has not played an important role in the miniaturization race. Here, we show the fabrication of liquid electrolyte gated vertical organic field effect transistors with channel lengths down to 2.4 nm. These ultrashort channel lengths are enabled by using insulating hexagonal boron nitride with atomically precise thickness and flatness as a spacer separating the vertically aligned source and drain electrodes. The transistors reveal promising electrical characteristics with output current densities of up to 2.95 MA cm-2 at -0.4 V bias, on-off ratios of up to 106, a steep subthreshold swing of down to 65 mV dec-1 and a transconductance of up to 714 S m-1. Realizing channel lengths in the sub-5 nm regime and operation voltages down to 100 μV proves the potential of organic semiconductors for future highly integrated or low power electronics.

High-Performance Organic Synaptic Transistors with an Ultrathin Active Layer for Neuromorphic Computing.

In recent years, much attention has been focused on two-dimensional (2D) material-based synaptic transistor devices because of their inherent advantages of low dimension, simultaneous read-write operation and high efficiency. However, process compatibility and repeatability of these materials are still a big challenge, as well as other issues such as complex transfer process and material selectivity. In this work, synaptic transistors with an ultrathin organic semiconductor layer (down to 7 nm) were obtained by the simple dip-coating process, which exhibited a high current switch ratio up to 106, well off state as low as nearly 10-12 A, and low operation voltage of -3 V. Moreover, various synaptic behaviors were successfully simulated including excitatory postsynaptic current, paired pulse facilitation, long-term potentiation, and long-term depression. More importantly, under ultrathin conditions, excellent memory preservation, and linearity of weight update were obtained because of the enhanced effect of defects and improved controllability of the gate voltage on the ultrathin active layer, which led to a pattern recognition rate up to 85%. This is the first work to demonstrate that the pattern recognition rate, a crucial parameter for neuromorphic computing can be significantly improved by reducing the thickness of the channel layer. Hence, these results not only reveal a simple and effective way to improve plasticity and memory retention of the artificial synapse via thickness modulation but also expand the material selection for the 2D artificial synaptic devices.

Strain-Engineering Induced Anisotropic Crystallite Orientation and Maximized Carrier Mobility for High-Performance Microfiber-Based Organic Bioelectronic Devices.

Despite the importance of carrier mobility, recent research efforts have been mainly focused on the improvement of volumetric capacitance in order to maximize the figure-of-merit, μC* (product of carrier mobility and volumetric capacitance), for high-performance organic electrochemical transistors. Herein, high-performance microfiber-based organic electrochemical transistors with unprecedentedly large μC* using highly ordered crystalline poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) microfibers with very high carrier mobilities are reported. The strain engineering via uniaxial tension is employed in combination with solvent-mediated crystallization in the course of drying coagulated fibers, resulting in the permanent preferential alignment of crystalline PEDOT:PSS domains along the fiber direction, which is verified by atomic force microscopy and transmission wide-angle X-ray scattering. The resultant strain-engineered microfibers exhibit very high carrier mobility (12.9 cm2 V-1 s-1 ) without the trade-off in volumetric capacitance (122Fcm-3 ) and hole density (5.8×1020 cm-3 ). Such advantageous electrical and electrochemical characteristics offer the benchmark parameter of μC* over ≈1500Fcm-1 V-1 s-1 , which is the highest metric ever reported in the literature and can be beneficial for realizing a new class of substrate-free fibrillar and/or textile bioelectronics in the configuration of electrochemical transistors and/or electrochemical ion pumps.

A Simple Approach to Fabrication of Highly Efficient Electrolyte-Gated Organic Transistors by Phase Microsegregation of 2,7-Dioctyl [1]benzothieno[3,2-b]benzothiophene and Polystyrene Mixtures

Electrolyte-gated organic transistors represent a promising platform for the design of fluid biosensors. The paper presents a simple and easily scalable approach to the manufacture of high-performance stable electrolyte-gated organic transistors with reproducible electrical characteristics, based on phase microsegregation in mixtures of an organic semiconductor, 2,7-dioctyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b]benzothiophene, with a dielectric polymer, polystyrene.

Engineering donor–acceptor conjugated polymers for high-performance and fast-response organic electrochemical transistors

The donor, side chain, polymerization method, and processing solvent were systematically explored for diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) based donor–acceptor polymers to achieve high-performance and fast-response organic electrochemical transistors.

Highly Stable Nonhydroxyl Antisolvent Polymer Dielectric: A New Strategy towards High-Performance Low-Temperature Solution-Processed Ultraflexible Organic Transistors for Skin-Inspired Electronics.

Scarcity of the antisolvent polymer dielectrics and their poor stability have significantly prevented solution-processed ultraflexible organic transistors from low-temperature, large-scale production for applications in low-cost skin-inspired electronics. Here, we present a novel low-temperature solution-processed PEI-EP polymer dielectric with dramatically enhanced thermal stability, humidity stability, and frequency stability compared with the conventional PVA/c-PVA and c-PVP dielectrics, by incorporating polyethyleneimine PEI as crosslinking sites in nonhydroxyl epoxy EP. The PEI-EP dielectric requires a very low process temperature as low as 70°C and simultaneously possesses the high initial decomposition temperature (340°C) and glass transition temperature (230°C), humidity-resistant dielectric properties, and frequency-independent capacitance. Integrated into the solution-processed C8-BTBT thin-film transistors, the PEI-EP dielectric enables the device stable operation in air within 2 months and in high-humidity environment from 20 to 100% without significant performance degradation. The PEI-EP dielectric transistor array also presents weak hysteresis transfer characteristics, excellent electrical performance with 100% operation rate, high mobility up to 7.98 cm2 V−1 s−1 (1 Hz) and average mobility as high as 5.3 cm2 V−1 s−1 (1 Hz), excellent flexibility with the normal operation at the bending radius down to 0.003 mm, and foldable and crumpling-resistant capability. These results reveal the great potential of PEI-EP polymer as dielectric of low-temperature solution-processed ultraflexible organic transistors and open a new strategy for the development and applications of next-generation low-cost skin electronics.

Ethylenedioxythiophene incorporated diketopyrrolopyrrole conjugated polymers for high-performance organic electrochemical transistors

Diketopyrrolopyrrole-based conjugated polymers with ethylenedioxythiophene and glycolated side chains are used in organic electrochemical transistors, which demonstrate low threshold voltage, a high on/off ratio, high stability and fast response.

High-performance Organic Transistor Ammonia Sensor with Laminated Ultrathin Film Structure

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A Solution Processable Dithioalkyl Dithienothiophene (DSDTT) Based Small Molecule and Its Blends for High Performance Organic Field Effect Transistors.

The 3,5-dithiooctyl dithienothiophene based small molecular semiconductor DDTT-DSDTT (1), end functionalized with fused dithienothiophene (DTT) units, was synthesized and characterized for organic field effect transistors (OFET). The thermal, optical, electrochemical, and computed electronic structural properties of 1 were investigated and contrasted. The single crystal structure of 1 reveals the presence of intramolecular locks between S(alkyl)···S(thiophene), with a very short S-S distance of 3.10 Å, and a planar core. When measured in an OFET device compound 1 exhibits a hole mobility of 3.19 cm2 V-1 s-1, when the semiconductor layer is processed by a solution-shearing deposition method and using environmentally acceptable anisole as the solvent. This is the highest value reported to date for an all-thiophene based molecular semiconductor. In addition, solution-processed small molecule/insulating polymer (1/PαMS) blend films and devices were investigated. Morphological analysis reveals a nanoscopic vertical phase separation with the PαMS layer preferentially contacting the dielectric and 1 located on top of the stack. The OFET based on the blend comprising 50% weight of 1 exhibits a hole mobility of 2.44 cm2 V-1 s-1 and a very smaller threshold voltage shift under gate bias stress.