Reduction Of Dielectric Thickness Research Articles

Impact of scaling of dielectric thickness on mobility in top-contact pentacene organic thin film transistors

The effect of scaling of poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) and cross-linkable poly(4-vinylphenol) (PVP) polymer dielectric thickness on field effect mobility in top contact pentance organic thin film transistors was investigated. Mobility at a constant gate voltage improved significantly with reduction in thickness of both dielectrics. Analysis at a constant gate electric field or identical induced accumulation charge revealed that only a part of the improvement occurs due to simple scaling of dielectric thickness, and the remaining is due to improvement in interface quality. Atomic force microscopic analysis of the dielectric surface revealed that dielectric roughness reduced with reduction in dielectric thickness. A comparison of the two dielectrics also indicates that band mobility is significantly higher in pentacene/PMMA as compared to pentacene/PVP dielectric.

Low-voltage organic transistors with an amorphous molecular gate dielectric

Organic thin film transistors (TFTs) are of interest for a variety of large-area electronic applications, such as displays, sensors and electronic barcodes. One of the key problems with existing organic TFTs is their large operating voltage, which often exceeds 20 V. This is due to poor capacitive coupling through relatively thick gate dielectric layers: these dielectrics are usually either inorganic oxides or nitrides, or insulating polymers, and are often thicker than 100 nm to minimize gate leakage currents. Here we demonstrate a manufacturing process for TFTs with a 2.5-nm-thick molecular self-assembled monolayer (SAM) gate dielectric and a high-mobility organic semiconductor (pentacene). These TFTs operate with supply voltages of less than 2 V, yet have gate currents that are lower than those of advanced silicon field-effect transistors with SiO2 dielectrics. These results should therefore increase the prospects of using organic TFTs in low-power applications (such as portable devices). Moreover, molecular SAMs may even be of interest for advanced silicon transistors where the continued reduction in dielectric thickness leads to ever greater gate leakage and power dissipation.