Pentacene Field-effect Transistors Research Articles

Modelling and simulation of organic (Pentacene) field effect transistor

In this paper, we studied the simulation of the electrical parameters of an organic pentacene field-effect transistor (OFET) based on the Poole-Frenkel method, which aims to provide a better balance between static and dynamic performance parameters. This approach gives us a quick and easy way to model devices with strong nonlinear behaviour without going into the physics of the device. Metal gates, room temperature deposited gate dielectric, and vacuum deposited pentacene as a semiconductor are used in an inverted (bottom gate, top contact) and planar (bottom gate, bottom contact) device structure. The OFETs possess a channel length of 2 μm as well as a channel width of 10 mm. The Silvaco 2-D Atlas simulator is usedas the tool for finite element simulation. According to the simulation results, the planner structure's source electrode can deliver more current than the staggered structure. The contact resistance of the bottom contact structure (3.973×104Ω) was also found to be higher than that of the top contact structure (2.386×104Ω), which limits the mobility of the charge carriers within the semiconductor and, as a result, lowers the drain-source current.

On/Off Ratio of a Pentacene Field-Effect Transistor with a Discontinuous MoO<sub>3</sub> Layer

Improvement of the on/off ratio in organic field-effect transistors through the use of pentacene and molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) layers was attempted via the preparation of a discontinuous MoO3 layer using a mesh mask. We prepared three types of devices. Device A had a conventional top-contact structure with an n-type Si wafer and a 200-nm-thick SiO2 film onto which we deposited a 70-nm-thick pentacene film and a 30-nm-thick layer of Au top electrodes. Devices B and C had a similar structure to device A but received a continuous and a discontinuous MoO3 layer, respectively. The off current in Device B was remarkably high; in contrast, the off current in Device C was reduced and dependent on the separation of the MoO3 layer. It was deduced that the high resistance of the area without MoO3 contributed to the reduced off current.

Band Bending and Trap Distribution along the Channel of Organic Field-Effect Transistors from Frequency-Resolved Scanning Photocurrent Microscopy

The scanning photocurrent microscopy (SPCM) method is applied to pentacene field-effect transistors (FETs). In this technique, a modulated laser beam is focused and scanned along the channel of the transistors. The resulting spatial photocurrent profile is attributed to extra free holes generated from the dissociation of light-created excitons after their interaction with trapped holes. The trapped holes result from the local upward band bending in the accumulation layer depending on the applied voltages. Thus, the photocurrent profile along the conducting channel of the transistors reflects the pattern of the trapped holes and upward band bending under the various operating conditions of the transistor. Moreover, it is found here that the frequency-resolved SPCM (FR-SPCM) is related to the interaction of free holes via trapping and thermal release from active probed traps of the first pentacene monolayers in the accumulation layer. The active probed traps are selected by the modulation frequency of the laser beam so that the FR-SPCM can be applied as a spectroscopic technique to determine the energy distribution of the traps along the transistor channel. In addition, a crossover is found in the FR-SPCM spectra that signifies the transition from empty to partially empty probed trapping states near the corresponding trap quasi-Fermi level. From the frequency of this crossover, the energy gap from the quasi-Fermi Etp level to the corresponding local valence band edge Ev, which is bent up by the gate voltage, can be estimated. This allows us to spatially determine the magnitude of the band bending under different operation conditions along the channel of the organic transistors.

Preliminary Evaluation of Pentacene Field Effect Transistors with Polymer Gate Electret as Ionizing Radiation Dosimeters

Interest in the use of organic electronic devices in radiation sensing applications has grown in recent years. The numerous device configurations (e.g., diodes, thin film transistors) and potential for improved tissue equivalence compared to their silicon-based analogues make them attractive candidates for various radiation dosimetry measurements. In this work, a variation of the organic thin film transistor (OTFT) is studied, in which a polymer electret is added. An OTFT electret design can be used in either a wired or wireless configuration for in vivo dosimetry with the possibility of real-time detection. The linearity, reproducibility, and dependence on energy of these devices were measured through exposure to 100 kVp photons from an orthovoltage treatment unit (Xstrahl 300) and 6 MV photons from a Varian TrueBeam medical linear accelerator. Prior to irradiation, all transistors were programmed with a −80 V bias applied to the Gate electrode (Vg) for 3 s. In the wireless configuration, after each delivered dose, the transfer characteristic was scanned to readout the amount of erased charges by monitoring the drain current change. When the programmed charge was sufficiently depleted by radiation, transistors were reprogrammed for repeated use. The real-time readout in a wired configuration was performed by measuring the drain current with Vg = −15 V; Vd = −15 V. The 6 MV photon beam was turned on and off at different dose rates of 600, 400, 300, 200, and 60 cGy/min to quantify the sensitivity of the device to changes in dose rate. The wireless transistors showed a linear increase in current with increasing dose. The sensitivities for different energies were 60 ± 5 nA/Gy at 6 MV at a dose rate of 600 cGy/min and 80 ± 10 nA/Gy at 100 kVp at a dose rate of 200 cGy/min. The sensitivity of detectors tested in a wired configuration at Vd = −15 V; Vg = −15 V was 8.1 nA/s at a dose rate of 600 cGy/min. The principle of pentacene OTFTs with polymer electret as radiation detectors was demonstrated. Devices had excellent linearity, reproducibility, and were able to be reprogrammed for multiple uses as wireless detectors. The wired transistors demonstrated an effective response as real-time detectors.

Maximized Hole Trapping in a Polystyrene Transistor Dielectric from a Highly Branched Iminobis(aminoarene) Side Chain.

We synthesized highly branched and electron-donating side chain subunits and attached them to polystyrene (PS) used as a dielectric layer in a pentacene field-effect transistor. The influence of these groups on dielectric function, charge retention, and threshold voltage shifts (ΔVth) depending on their positions in dielectric multilayers was determined. We compared the observations made on an N-perphenylated iminobisaniline side chain with those from the same side chains modified with ZnO nanoparticles and with an adduct formed from tetracyanoethylene (TCNE). We also synthesized an analogue in which six methoxy groups are present instead of two amine nitrogens. At 6 mol % side chain, hopping transport was sufficient to cause shorting of the gate, while at 2 mol %, charge trapping was observable as transistor threshold voltage shifts (ΔVth). We created three types of devices: with the substituted PS layer as single-layer dielectric, on top of a cross-linked PS layer but in contact with the pentacene (bilayers), and sandwiched between two PS layers in trilayers. Especially large bias stress effects and ΔVth, larger than those in the case of the hexamethoxy and previously studied dimethoxy analogues, were observed in the second case, and the effects increased with the increasing electron-donating properties of the modified side chains. The highest ΔVth was consistent with a majority of the side chains stabilizing the trapped charge. Trilayer devices showed decreased charge storage capability compared to previous work in which we used less donating side chains but in higher concentrations. The ZnO and TCNE modifications resulted in slightly more and less negative ΔVth, respectively, when the side chain polystyrene was not in contact with the pentacene and isolated from the gate electrode. The results indicate a likely maximum combination of molecular charge stabilizing activity and side chain concentration that still allows gate dielectric function.

(Invited) Review of Identification Methods of 1/f Noise Mechanisms in Polymer-Based OTFTs

We study the low frequency noise, also known as flicker noise (1/f), in polymer-based Organic Thin Film Transistors, and we review techniques to identify the mechanisms of the 1/f noise based on a specific model of the device. We found that the quality of the gate dielectric and its interface may determine the dominant noise mechamism.Three theories have been formulated to explain the origin of 1/f noise in FET devices: the carrier number fluctuation (∆N) theory[1], the mobility fluctuation (∆µ) theory [2], and the ∆N - ∆µ theory [3], which assumes that effects of insulator charge fluctuations affect the carrier mobility at the interface. The ∆N - ∆µ theory reduces to the ∆N model when the surface mobility is not affected by carrier number fluctuation.According to the ∆N - ∆µ theory [3]the plot of SID(f)/ID 2 and [gm/ID]2 against ID (gm being the transconductance and ID the drain current) allows us to identify the noise mechanism. When both curves are parallel, 1/f noise must be due to carrier number fluctuation. If there is a slight deviation from this parallel behavior, it must be due to the correlated surface mobility fludtuation (∆N - ∆µ model).A number of analysis of the noise in OTFTs have been published. In most of them, it is found to be a bulk phenomenon[4,5], and as a result the main mechanism is assumed to be mobility fluctuation. However, very often these analysis are not very complete and are based on crystalline MOSFET models instead of specific OTFT models. On the other hand, it was demonstrated that the analysis must be made over a range wide of bias in order to accurately determine the origin of noise [6,7].We studied the origin of 1/f noise two polymeric p-type OTFT technologies developed by CEA´Liten (France).We found that in the older technology the slopes, in log-log scale, of SID(f)/ID 2 and [gm/ID]2, versus ID had quite different values. This means that the main mechanism of noise in OTFTs is not the fluctuation of the number of carriers. Plotting SID(f)/I2 Dvs (VGS-Vth) in log-log scale (Vth being the threshold voltage) for devices with different channel lengths, channel width W=2000 µm and at VDS = 1 V, we observed that the extracted slope is close to -1 (Table 1). This indicates that noise is due to the fluctuation of carrier mobility, due to the lower quality of the materials and fabrication defects. The threshold voltage was extracted assuming a physically-based OTFT model with a power-law based model of the field effect mobility [8].In the second technology, mobility values are higher, 2-3 cm2/(V s). The normalized current noise PSD follows the squared-transconductance ratio variation (Fig. 1), not the inverse of the drain current. We concluded that the low frequency in the targeted devices of the second technology is originated from the carrier number fluctuation due to trapping/release of charge carriers by trap states uniformly distributed within the gate oxide. The extracted values of gate dielectric trap-states density are comparable to values obtained in conventional Si-based MOSFETs [7], indicating the higher quality of the gate dielectric and its interface with the polymeric material compared to the first studied technology and other previously reported OTFT devices.[1] McWhorter A. L.. "1/f noise and germanium surface prosperities," Semiconductor Surface Physics. R. H. Kingdton (Ed), University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA, 1957, pp. 207-228.[2] Hooge F. N., "1/f noise is no surface effect", Physics Letters, 29A (3), 1969, 139–140[3] Ghibaudo, G., et al..,‘Improved analysis of low frequency noise in field-effect MOS transistors’, Phys. Status Solidi. A , 1991, 124, pp. 571-581[4] L. Ke, S., et al., “Low frequency noise analysis on organic thin film transistors,” Journal of Applied Physics 104, 124502 (2008).[5] H. Kang and V. Subramanian, “Measurement and analysis of 1/f noise under switched bias in organic thin film transistors,” Applied Physics Letters 104, 023301 (2014).[6] Y. Xu, et al., “Origin of low-frequency noise in pentacene field-effect transistors,” Solid-State Electronics 61, 106–110 (2011).[7] W. E. Muhea, et al.. “1/f noise analysis in high mobility polymer-based OTFTs with non-fluorinated dielectric,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 114, 243301 (2019).[8] C.H. Kim; et al., “A Compact Model for Organic Field-Effect Transistors With Improved Output Asymptotic Behaviors,” IEEE Trans. on Electron Devices, vol. 60, no. 3, pp. 1136-1141, March 2013. Figure 1

Enhancement of Memory Properties of Pentacene Field-Effect Transistor by the Reconstruction of an Inner Vertical Electric Field with an n-Type Semiconductor Interlayer

Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) as nonvolatile memory units are essential for lightweight and flexible electronics, yet the practical application remains a great challenge. The positively charged defects in pentacene film at the interface between pentacene and polymer caused by environmental conditions, as revealed by theoretical and experimental research works, result in unacceptable high programming/erasing (P/E) gate voltages in pentacene OFETs with polymer charge-trapping dielectric. Here, we report a pentacene OFET in which an n-type semiconductor layer was intercalated between a polymer and a blocking insulator. In this structure, the hole barrier caused by the defect layer can be adjusted by the thickness and charge-carrier density of the n-type semiconductor interlayer based on the electrostatic induction theory. This idea was implemented in an OFET structure Cu/pentacene/poly(2-vinyl naphthalene) (PVN)/ZnO/SiO2/Si(p+), which shows low P/E gate voltages, large field-effect mobility (0.73 cm2 V-1 s-1), fast P/E speeds (responding to a pulse width of 5 × 10-4 s), and long retention time in air.

Prepare with care: Low contact resistance of pentacene Field-Effect transistors with clean and oxidized gold electrodes

In recent years, a number of researchers have voiced concerns regarding the increasing amount of publications which report record performance characteristics of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). These devices often make use of elaborate architectures, ranging from surface treatment by self-assembled monolayers to contact-limited doping, injection layer introduction etc. While these techniques are claimed to improve the device performance, they often result in poorly defined device interfaces, such as that of the organic semiconductor with the dielectric and electrode surfaces, which render a rigorous theoretical description of the interface effects close to impossible. Furthermore, the effects of ambient exposure of prepared devices are often neglected during the analysis. In this work we introduce a completely high vacuum-based manufacturing and electrical characterization of OFETs using commercially available gold bottom-contact bottom-gate FET structures, which enables a rigorous exclusion of any air contact of the devices. Using the example of the prototypical and widely studied organic semiconductor pentacene, we compare various initial cleaning procedures of the FET-structures prior to the vacuum deposition of pentacene films on the device characteristics and complement the electrical in situ analysis by ex situ AFM measurements of the pentacene film morphology. We demonstrate that O 2 plasma cleaning with subsequent thermal annealing under vacuum conditions results in well-defined interfaces of the pentacene film with clean surface of gold electrodes, which exhibit a remarkably low width-normalized contact resistance of 1.19 kΩcm. Additionally, we show that the formation of gold oxide on top of the electrodes as a result of O 2 plasma cleaning without subsequent heating is beneficial for the charge carrier injection, resulting in a contact resistance of only 0.16 kΩcm – to the best of our knowledge, one of the lowest yet reported values for pentacene-gold systems. In addition, the comparative rigorous vacuum-based processing and analysis allows in particular to study also the effects of controlled exposure to ambient air – even for a short time – as well as aging under different storage conditions on the device performance. • Full HV OFET fabrication and characterization process chain is introduced. • HV process chain allows rigorous characterization of the charge carrier injection. • Reference for a PEN OFET with clean Au electrodes is demonstrated. • Gold oxide improves the charge carrier injection in PEN OFETs. • Ambient exposure and HV storage of OFETs affects the device characteristics.

Study of exciton-polaron interaction in pentacene field effect transistors using high sensitive photocurrent measurements

Luminescence quenching in the presence of polarons is one of the major challenges in organic light emitting devices. In this work, exciton quenching in the presence of polarons is studied using phase sensitive photocurrent measurements on pentacene field effect transistors. The enhancement of conduction in the organic field effect transistors on light illumination is studied using photocurrent spectral response measurements and corresponding optical simulations. The photocurrent is shown to be governed by the polaron mobility and the exciton quenching efficiency, both of which depend on the polaron density in the channel. Two models are proposed on the exciton dynamics in the presence of gate induced polarons in the transistor channel. The first model simulates the steady-state exciton concentration profile in the presence of exciton-polaron interaction. The second one is a three-dimensional steady state exciton-polaron interaction model, which supports the findings from the first model. It is shown that the excitons quench by transferring its energy to polarons, thereby promoting the latter to high energy states in the density of states manifold. The polarons move in the higher energy states with greater microscopic mobility before thermalizing, thereby leading to an enhancement of conduction. It is observed that for the present system, where charge carrier transport is by hopping, all polarons interact with excitons. This implies that for low mobility systems, the interaction is not limited to deep trapped polarons.

Enhanced charge injection in 6, 13-bis(triisopropylsilylethylnyl)-pentacene field-effect transistors with a rhenium oxide buffer layer

We introduce a transition metal oxide, rhenium trioxide (ReO3), as a charge injection buffer layer for 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethylnyl)-pentacene (TIPS-pentacene) field-effect transistors (FETs). By inserting a ReO3 layer, a large energy barrier between silver source electrode and TIPS-pentacene layer was significantly reduced. While the TIPS-pentacene FETs showed low hole mobility (μh) of 0.25 cm2 V−1 s−1 and large threshold voltage (VTH) of −25 V due to large contact resistance (RC) of 155 kΩ cm, the TIPs-pentacene FETs with ReO3 decreased RC as low as 28 kΩ cm. Thus, we can improve μh to two times greater (∼0.46 cm2 V−1 s−1) and reduce VTH to around 0 V. Together with these improved electrical characteristics, the TIPS-pentacene with ReO3 shows stable operation under gate voltage bias stress conditions. The shift of VTH and degradation of μh which were shown in the TIPS-pentacene FET without ReO3 is suppressed in the TIPS-pentacene FETs with ReO3 under both positive and negative bias conditions.

Temperature dependent carrier mobility in organic field-effect transistors: The role of dielectrics

It has been shown that the use of a ferroelectric dielectric in 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)pentacene (TIPS-pentacene) field-effect transistors (FETs) results in a negative coefficient of carrier mobility, a signature of a band-like transport, above a certain temperature [A. Laudari and S. Guha, Phys. Rev. Appl. 6, 044007 (2016)]. Along with spontaneous polarization, polymer ferroelectric dielectrics offer a platform for tuning interfacial transport in FETs as their dielectric constant may vary nearly by an order of magnitude with temperature. In this work, we explore a variety of organic and inorganic dielectrics with varying dielectric constants on the temperature-dependent transport properties of TIPS-pentacene organic FETs to obtain a comprehensive insight into the role of energetic disorder and trap states. In particular, a high κ dielectric, Al2O3, shows an activated transport throughout the temperature regime, whereas the ferroelectric copolymer poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) (PVDF-TrFE), with comparable and even higher values of κ compared to Al2O3, above 200 K shows a very different behavior. Additionally, the external poling condition of the PVDF-TrFE dielectric plays a role. We attribute the band-like negative coefficient of carrier mobility, observed at high temperatures, in TIPS-pentacene FETs with unpoled PVDF-TrFE to a polarization fluctuation process and explore this phenomenon using the concept of transport energy.

Structural parameters affecting the performance of non-volatile memory based on organic field-effect transistors

To obtain better memory performance, we have varied different structural parameters such as thickness of the gold electrodes dAu and thickness of the electret de for organic non-volatile memory (ONVM) devices based on pentacene field-effect transistors. It was found that the memory devices gained larger memory windows by increasing dAu. This effect is attributed to the improved electron injection at the Au/pentacene contact. On the other hand, decreasing de facilitated the transport of the injected electrons, leading to a highly efficient programming. However, both strategies in excessive cases would unfortunately suffer from some limitations, which should be considered for practical applications. Additionally, with help of the results, we achieved an overall understanding about the operating mechanism of this memory type in aspects of charge injection and charge trapping.

Initial gas exposure effects on monolayer pentacene field-effect transistor studied using four gallium indium probes

Abstract In this study, we report that the electrical transport property in monolayer pentacene is highly sensitive to a small amount of exposure to gaseous molecules of oxygen, nitrogen, and argon, by using independently-driven four gallium indium (GaIn) probes. Liquid metal GaIn probes have been used as non-destructive conductivity electrodes for monolayer OFET films in a vacuum chamber. We carried out the fabrication of monolayer pentacene and the four-probe measurement without exposure to atmospheric air. Four GaIn probes were used in situ to measure conductivity in the channel separately from the overall characteristics including contact resistance at the electrode probes. The results demonstrate that oxygen exposure of 1 L ( 10 − 6 Torr s) reduces mobility to 8% of the original value in the monolayer film, and the reduction is irreversible, i.e., mobility does not recover its original value after the evacuation of gaseous molecules. Physisorption of gaseous molecules is involved in the gas exposure effects, because chemically inert gases of nitrogen and argon also reduce the mobility. Taking these findings together with the results of photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy measurements, we assume that the reduction is attributed to the physisorption at grain boundaries formed by the coalescence of monolayer islands.

Exploring the ultrasonic nozzle spray-coating technique for the fabrication of solution-processed organic electronics

The ultrasonic nozzle (US) spray method was investigated for its utility in fabricating organic electrodes composed of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), a standard conductive polymer material used to produce large-area low-cost OFETs. The US spray technique involves generating a solution spray by first passing the solution through a head and nozzle subjected to ultrasonic vibrations that induce atomization. This method is advantageous in that the resulting spray comprises extremely small solution droplets a few micrometers in diameter, unlike the spray produced using conventional air spray methods. The PEDOT:PSS US solution spraying process was optimized by controlling the flow rate of the N2 carrier gas and the substrate temperature while monitoring the quality of the resulting PEDOT:PSS electrode films. The pentacene field-effect transistors prepared using the US spray method displayed a maximum field-effect mobility of 0.47 cm2V−1s−1 (with an average value of 0.31 cm2V−1s−1), 35% better than the mobilities achieved using the conventional air spray method. In addition, the device-to-device reproducibility was improved, as indicated by a decrease in the standard deviation of the mobility values from 30% for the air spray devices to 24% for the US spray devices. These results indicated that the US spray technique is efficient and superior to the conventional air spray method for the development of low-cost large-area organic electronics.

A comparative TCAD simulations of a P-and N-type organic field effect transistors: field-dependent mobility, bulk and interface traps models

Pentacene and Polyera™ N2200 based-organic field effect transistors (OFETs), have been fabricated and simulated in a bottom-gate/back contacts configuration. The simulations were processed with the help of 2D drift–diffusion model. Comparison and analysis of the electrical characteristics of both n- and p-channel OFETs have been investigated. The study was centred on the electrical performance of every structure in term of mobility, fixed charge at the oxide/semiconductor interface and bulk traps density and its related energy. The dependence of the transfer characteristic on the grain boundaries traps state, in the case of pentacene, has been also outlined. Comparison between the simulation results and our experimental data show a good agreement. We finally present how our model can be applied to different devices with different channel length and we analyse their relationship with extracted electrical parameters.

Electrical and Structural Origin of Self-Healing Phenomena in Pentacene Thin Films.

Self-healing induced by structural phase transformation is demonstrated using pentacene field-effect transistors. During the self-healing process, the electrical properties at the pentacene interfaces improve due to the phase transformation from monolayer phase to thin-film phase. Enhanced mobility is confirmed by first-principles calculations.

Direct growth of graphene-dielectric bi-layer structure on device substrates from Si-based polymer

To facilitate the utilization of graphene films in conventional semiconducting devices (e.g. transistors and memories) which includes an insulating layer such as gate dielectric, facile synthesis of bi-layers composed of a graphene film and an insulating layer by one-step thermal conversion will be very important. We demonstrate a simple, inexpensive, scalable and patternable process to synthesize graphene-dielectric bi-layer films from solution-processed polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) under a Ni capping layer. This method fabricates graphene-dielectric bi-layer structure simultaneously directly on substrate by thermal conversion of PDMS without using additional graphene transfer and patterning process or formation of an expensive dielectric layer, which makes the device fabrication process much easier. The graphene-dielectric bi-layer on a conducting substrate was used in bottom-contact pentacene field-effect transistors that showed ohmic contact and small hysteresis. Our new method will provide a way to fabricate flexible electronic devices simply and inexpensively.

(Invited) Electrical and Structural Origin of Self-Healing Phenomena in Pentacene Thin Film Transistors

Despite the great potential for flexible large-area applications in organic electronics, electrical and structural instabilities have been widely regarded as an unavoidable weakness of organic semiconductors. Electronic components made of organic molecules are considered more fragile and sensitive to external conditions than their inorganic counterparts and the lifetime of them is shorter than that of conventional devices. Despite these shortcuts it is even more surprising that organic field-effect transistors (FETs) can undergo a self-healing process, i.e. their electrical characteristics can counter-intuitively improve over time, due to the unstable nature of weakly bound molecules. This remarkable phenomenon has never been understood completely. In this work, we demonstrate that the self-healing in pentacene FETs is induced by a structural phase transformation and can be triggered by various extrinsic or intrinsic influences. We evaluate in detail the necessary conditions for electrical self-healing in pentacene FETs and reveal the structure-property relation at the heart of this phenomenon: a structural phase transformation from the metastable monolayer phase to the so called “thin film phase”. The transformation basically involves a tilt of the molecules against the surface normal near both interfaces of pentacene thin films (pentacene-dielectric and metal-pentacene) and has a profound influence on the electronic properties of pentacene FETs, which we demonstrate by way of electronic structure calculations using DFT and semi-classical transport theory. Finally, possible external triggers able to initiate the self-healing process are discussed. A case study adopting various fabrication procedures reveals that external triggers such as nitrogen gas or other organic compounds seem to be necessary to initiate the self-healing process.

Subthreshold slope as a measure of interfacial trap density in pentacene films

Electrical properties in organic field effect transistors (FETs) are dominated by charge transport in the accumulation layer, few molecular layers close to the gate dielectric. Through comparison of the subthreshold slope between monolayer (ML) and thick pentacene FETs, formation of the second layer islands on top of the complete first layer is found to be crucial in determining the charge transport in ML pentacene FETs. It is demonstrated that a pentacene ML field effect transistor (FET) is an excellent probe that can detect electronic states of organic semiconductors interfacing with the gate dielectric at nanometer scale. Far higher sub-threshold slope in ML FETs, as a measure of interfacial charge trap density, than that in thick pentacene FETs is translated that the path of the induced carriers in ML FETs is limited into the molecular layer interfacing with the gate dielectric with a high density of charge traps, while carriers in thicker films have alternative pathways through more electrically conductive layer above the first layer with much less trap density.

Effects of film microstructure on the bias stability of pentacene field-effect transistors

In this report, the effects of film microstructure on the bias stability of pentacene field-effect transistors (FETs) were investigated. To control the microstructure of pentacene film, substrate temperature was changed from 25 to 90 °C during pentacene deposition. As the substrate temperature increased, pentacene grain size increased (or grain boundary (GB) decreased) because of the elevated surface diffusion of pentacene molecules. Accordingly, field-effect mobility increased up to 1.52 cm2/V. In contrast, bias stability showed totally different characteristics: samples prepared at high substrate temperatures exhibited the lowest degree of bias stability. This GB independent charge trapping phenomenon was solved by examining molecular scale ordering within the intragrain regions. The pentacene film grown at 90 °C showed the largest percentage of pentacene molecules with bulk crystalline structures. This inhomogeneity in the pentacene microstructure induces crystal mismatch within intragrain region, thereby providing deep trap sites for gate-bias stress driven instability. Our study shows that GB is not the main sites for bias stress related charge trapping, rather the molecular orientation within intragrain region is responsible for the charge trapping events. In this regard, the control of molecular scale ordering is important to obtain OFETs with a high bias stability.