Alexander Fian

Tuning the threshold voltage in organic thin-film transistors by local channel doping using photoreactive interfacial layers.

In recent years, organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) have attracted a great deal of attention due to their potential applications in low cost sensors,1 memory cards,2 and integrated circuits.3 Great efforts are under way to design OTFTs with high performance, high stability, high reproducibility, and low cost.4 Two of the most crucial device parameters are the charge carrier mobility and the threshold voltage (VTh). Concerning the mobility, the main goals for most applications is its maximization.5 For VTh, the situation is more complex: for example, for integrated circuits it would be desirable to tune VTh over a broad range,6 e.g., for inverter applications. In silicon technology, complementary circuits that consist of p-channel and n-channel transistors are typically used.7 There have been many attempts to adapt this technology to OTFTs and fabricate organic complementary inverters.2,8,9 They, however, suffer from poor n-type transistor performance and/or air instability of n-type semiconductor materials. An alternative approach is the adaptation of unipolar depletion-load inverters enabling simplified processing, even if they do not provide the low power consumption and the simple circuit design intrinsic to complementary logic.10,11 Depletion-load inverters consist of an enhancement-mode driver transistor and a depletion-mode load transistor and can be realized using only p-type OTFTs. So far there have been attempts to achieve this target by using a level shifter12,13 or a dual gate structure.14 The main objective is to find a reproducible method to realize driver and load transistors with equivalent device characteristics (in particular mobilities), but different VTh values.

Photolithographic patterning of cellulose: a versatile dual-tone photoresist for advanced applications.

In many areas of science and technology, patterned films and surfaces play a key role in engineering and development of advanced materials. Here, we present a versatile toolbox that provides an easy patterning method for cellulose thin films by means of photolithography and enzymatic digestion. A patterned UV-illumination of trimethylsilyl cellulose thin films containing small amounts of a photo acid generator leads to a desilylation reaction and thus to the formation of cellulose in the irradiated areas. Depending on the conditions of development, either negative and positive type cellulose structures can be obtained, offering lateral resolutions down to the single-digit micro meter range by means of contact photolithography. In order to highlight the potential of this material for advanced patterning techniques, cellulose structures with sub-µm resolution are fabricated by means of two-photon absorption lithography. Moreover, these photochemically structured cellulose thin films are successfully implemented as dielectric layers in prototype organic thin film transistors. Such photopatternable dielectric layers are crucial for the realization of electrical interconnects for demanding organic device architectures.

Cellulose-Derivative-Based Gate Dielectric for High- Performance Organic Complementary Inverters

been realized using organic thin-fi lm transistors (OTFTs) as the essential element. In the majority of these applications OTFTs are integrated either in the form of arrays or as digital logic. The fundamental building block of digital logic is the inverter, a circuit that inverts an input signal. Much work has been devoted in the last fi ve years to design unipolar inverters using p-typeonly OTFTs. [ 18‐23 ] Unfortunately, unipolar logic based on single gate OTFTs always suffers from high power consumption and low noise margin coupled with high noise margin variability and therefore impedes the fabrication of complex circuits having hundreds or more logic gates. [ 19,22,23 ] In this context, it stands

Cross-linking of ROMP derived polymers using the two-photon induced thiol–ene reaction: towards the fabrication of 3D-polymer microstructures

Ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) has become an important tool for the synthesis of highly defined polymers and various polymer architectures. In the present work, the residual double bonds in ROMP derived polymeric materials were exploited for a photoinduced thiol–ene reaction in order to achieve a selective cross-linking of the macromolecules. Besides the photoinduced thiol–ene reaction, which was investigated by means of FT-IR measurements, also the resulting change in the refractive index was studied by spectroscopic ellipsometry. To demonstrate the versatility of this reaction for the realization of 3D polymeric microstructures, films of poly(norbornene dicarboxylic acid, dimethylester) were structured via two-photon induced cross-linking. The accessibility and reactivity of the polynorbornene main chain CC double bonds in the thiol–ene reaction pave the way towards novel strategies for the realization of polymer 3D microstructures.

Wavelength selective refractive index modulation in a ROMP derived polymer bearing phenyl- and ortho-nitrobenzyl ester groups

Patterning and tuning of the refractive index in polymers by means of UV-light is of great interest for optical applications such as polymeric waveguides or optical data storage devices. In this contribution, we report on the synthesis of a polynorbornene based copolymer bearing ortho-nitrobenzyl and phenyl ester groups capable of undergoing the photo-induced cleavage reaction and in a subsequent step optionally the photo-Fries rearrangement upon irradiation with UV-light. The photoreaction of these aromatic ester groups was investigated by means of FTIR, UV-VIS and spectroscopic ellipsometry. Due to the difference in UV absorption of the photoreactive units, the o-nitrobenzyl ester can be selectively excited by UV-light above 300 nm, while a subsequent illumination with 254 nm induces the photo-Fries rearrangement of the remaining phenyl ester groups. The structural changes in the chemical composition upon UV illumination lead to significant changes in the refractive index of the polymeric materials. Whilst the photo-Fries rearrangement of the phenyl ester groups causes a remarkable increase in the refractive index, it was found that the photo-induced cleavage reaction of ortho-nitrobenzyl ester moieties causes a decrease of the refractive index. This fact enables a selective tailoring of the refractive index by the choice of the applied wavelength. In addition, a two-step irradiation procedure using a sequence of different wavelengths provides the possibility of erasing and even inverting the index contrast.

In situ preparation, electrical and surface analytical characterization of pentacene thin film transistors

The fabrication of organic thin film transistors with highly reproducible characteristics presents a very challenging task. We have prepared and analyzed model pentacene thin film transistors under ultra-high vacuum conditions, employing surface analytical tools and methods. Intentionally contaminating the gold contacts and SiO2 channel area with carbon through repeated adsorption, dissociation, and desorption of pentacene proved to be very advantageous in the creation of devices with stable and reproducible parameters. We mainly focused on the device properties, such as mobility and threshold voltage, as a function of film morphology and preparation temperature. At 300 K, pentacene displays Stranski-Krastanov growth, whereas at 200 K fine-grained, layer-like film growth takes place, which predominantly influences the threshold voltage. Temperature dependent mobility measurements demonstrate good agreement with the established multiple trapping and release model, which in turn indicates a predominant concentration of shallow traps in the crystal grains and at the oxide-semiconductor interface. Mobility and threshold voltage measurements as a function of coverage reveal that up to four full monolayers contribute to the overall charge transport. A significant influence on the effective mobility also stems from the access resistance at the gold contact-semiconductor interface, which is again strongly influenced by the temperature dependent, characteristic film growth mode.

Efficiency of the Switching Process in Organic Electrochemical Transistors.

UNLABELLED Entirely screen printed organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxithiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) ( PEDOT PSS) and a polymer electrolyte are investigated in view of a correlation between the electrical charge consumed during switching and the volume of PEDOT PSS in the transistor channel. An understanding of the relation between charge consumption and the amount of electrochemically active PEDOT is essential for the design of high performance transistors and for providing a deeper insight into the fundamentals of the electrochemical switching process in OECTs. It turned out that a precise control of the width of the PEDOT PSS source-drain line is imperative for maximizing both the on-current and the on/off current ratio of lateral OECTs.

Optimizing pentacene thin-film transistor performance: Temperature and surface condition induced layer growth modification.

In this work we present in situ electrical and surface analytical, as well as ex situ atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies on temperature and surface condition induced pentacene layer growth modifications, leading to the selection of optimized deposition conditions and entailing performance improvements. We prepared p++-silicon/silicon dioxide bottom-gate, gold bottom-contact transistor samples and evaluated the pentacene layer growth for three different surface conditions (sputtered, sputtered + carbon and unsputtered + carbon) at sample temperatures during deposition of 200 K, 300 K and 350 K. The AFM investigations focused on the gold contacts, the silicon dioxide channel region and the highly critical transition area. Evaluations of coverage dependent saturation mobilities, threshold voltages and corresponding AFM analysis were able to confirm that the first 3–4 full monolayers contribute to the majority of charge transport within the channel region. At high temperatures and on sputtered surfaces uniform layer formation in the contact–channel transition area is limited by dewetting, leading to the formation of trenches and the partial development of double layer islands within the channel region instead of full wetting layers. By combining the advantages of an initial high temperature deposition (well-ordered islands in the channel) and a subsequent low temperature deposition (continuous film formation for low contact resistance) we were able to prepare very thin (8 ML) pentacene transistors of comparably high mobility.

High-Speed Plastic Integrated Circuits: Process Integration, Design, and Test

In this paper we propose the design and measurement of functional analog and digital circuits with a response time below 1 ms, based on organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) fabricated by means of contact photolithography and self-alignment procedures. An adapted amorphous Silicon TFT compact model is used both in analytic equations and in DC Spice simulations for the design of simple organic circuits. Digital circuits such as inverters and logic gates are demonstrated with DC gains of almost 19 dB. Two analog circuits are also shown: first a differential amplifier with an open loop DC gain of 10 dB and a gain-bandwidth of 3 kHz, and second, a source coupled latch comparator tested with an input frequency of 1 kHz and a clock frequency of 10 kHz. These simple circuits comprised of only a few OTFTs are fabricated directly on flexible plastic sheets and therefore are ideal front-end interfaces for the control and fast read-out of flexible sensors.

Microstructure, mechanical and optical properties of TiAlON coatings sputter deposited with varying oxygen partial pressures

Due to their excellent mechanical and optical properties as well as chemical stability, the synthesis of transition metal oxynitride thin films has attracted growing interest in the last years. Within this work, the evolution of the structure and properties of TiAlON coatings over a wide compositional range, from the nitride to the oxide side, was investigated. The coatings were grown on Si substrates in a laboratory-scale unbalanced magnetron dc sputtering system from powder metallurgical TiAl targets with an Al/Ti atomic ratio of 60/40, using a constant level of nitrogen with rising oxygen partial pressure. Coating composition and microstructure were investigated by energy- and wavelength-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Furthermore, the mechanical and optical properties were evaluated using nanoindentation and spectroscopic ellipsometry, respectively. Oxygen concentrations of up to 49 at.% within the films could be obtained, at the expense of the nitrogen content. The oxygen-free coating exhibited a single-phase fcc-Ti1−x Al x N structure. With increasing oxygen content the structure remained fcc-Ti1−x Al x N based, but additional fractions of amorphous oxides were formed. The structural evolution was corroborated by ab initio calculations. Decreasing coating hardness could be observed with increasing oxygen concentration. The refraction index and extinction coefficient were lower for coatings with higher oxygen content, but the behavior of the optical properties remained Ti1−x Al x N-like over the investigated spectral range.