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Contact-induced crystallinity for high-performance soluble acene-based transistors and circuits

Nature Materials volume 7, pages 216–221 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The use of organic materials presents a tremendous opportunity to significantly impact the functionality and pervasiveness of large-area electronics. Commercialization of this technology requires reduction in manufacturing costs by exploiting inexpensive low-temperature deposition and patterning techniques, which typically lead to lower device performance. We report a low-cost approach to control the microstructure of solution-cast acene-based organic thin films through modification of interfacial chemistry. Chemically and selectively tailoring the source/drain contact interface is a novel route to initiating the crystallization of soluble organic semiconductors, leading to the growth on opposing contacts of crystalline films that extend into the transistor channel. This selective crystallization enables us to fabricate high-performance organic thin-film transistors and circuits, and to deterministically study the influence of the microstructure on the device characteristics. By connecting device fabrication to molecular design, we demonstrate that rapid film processing under ambient room conditions and high performance are not mutually exclusive.

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Figure 1: Chemical structures and OTFT schematic cross-section.
Figure 2: Representative d.c. electrical characteristics for a diF-TESADT TFT.
Figure 3: Optical micrographs of diF-TESADT TFTs.
Figure 4: Temperature dependence of the effective field-effect mobility in the saturation regime.
Figure 5: Photograph, optical micrograph and electrical characteristics for diF-TESADT TFT circuits on a flexible plastic substrate.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support under the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) by the National Science Foundation is gratefully acknowledged by J.E.R. L.C.T., A.J.M. and B.H.H. acknowledge financial support from the National Research Council postdoctoral fellowship program. J.E.A. acknowledges the Office of Naval Research for financial support of synthesis efforts. D.J.G. acknowledges L. Loo, Princeton U., for many helpful discussions concerning nucleation and film microstructure, and B. Vogel, visiting assistant professor at Bucknell University, for assistance with preliminary differential scanning calorimetry measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Semiconductor Electronics Division, Electronics and Electrical Engineering Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-8120, USA

    D. J. Gundlach, J. E. Royer, O. D. Jurchescu, B. H. Hamadani, O. Kirillov & C. A. Richter

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA

    S. K. Park, O. D. Jurchescu & T. N. Jackson

  3. Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0055, USA

    S. Subramanian, S. R. Parkin & J. E. Anthony

  4. Surface and Microanalysis Science Division, Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-8372, USA

    A. J. Moad, L. C. Teague, J. G. Kushmerick & L. J. Richter

  5. Polymers Division, Material Science and Engineering Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-8541, USA

    R. J. Kline

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  1. D. J. Gundlach
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Correspondence to D. J. Gundlach.

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Gundlach, D., Royer, J., Park, S. et al. Contact-induced crystallinity for high-performance soluble acene-based transistors and circuits. Nature Mater 7, 216–221 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2122

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