Minji Kang

Remarkable Enhancement of Hole Transport in Top‐Gated N‐Type Polymer Field‐Effect Transistors by a High‐k Dielectric for Ambipolar Electronic Circuits

A remarkable enhancement of p-channel properties is achieved in initially n-channel dominant ambipolar P(NDI2OD-T2) organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) by the use of the fluorinated high-k dielectric P(VDF-TrFE). An almost two orders of magnitude increase in hole mobility (~0.11 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) ) originates from a strong interface modification at the semiconductor/dielectric interface, which provides high-performance complementary-like inverters and ring oscillator circuits.

High Performance and Stable N-Channel Organic Field-Effect Transistors by Patterned Solvent-Vapor Annealing

We report the fabrication of high-performance, printed, n-channel organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) based on an N,N-dialkyl-substituted-(1,7&1,6)-dicyanoperylene-3,4:9,10-bis(dicarboximide) derivative, PDI-RCN2, optimized by the solvent-vapor annealing (SVA) process. We performed a systematic study on the influence of solubility and the chemical structure of a solvent used for the SVA process on the ordering and orientation of PDI-RCN2 molecules in the thin film. The PDI-RCN2 film showed improved crystallinity under vapor annealing with the aliphatic 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) as a marginal solvent. The n-type OFETs with DCE-vapor-annealed PDI-RCN2 show highly improved charge-carrier mobility of ~0.5 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and higher stability under gate bias stress than the pristine OFETs. This large performance improvement was mainly attributed to increased crystallinity of the semiconductor thin film, enhancing π-π stacking. We also introduced a new method to pattern crystallinity of a certain region in the semiconducting film by selective exposure to the solvent vapor using a shadow mask. The crystal-patterned PDI-RCN2 OFETs exhibit decreased off-currents by ~10× and improved gate bias stability by minimizing crosstalk, reducing leakage current between devices, and reducing the density of charge trap states of the organic semiconductor.

Spray-printed organic field-effect transistors and complementary inverters

We report the fabrication of high-performance organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) and complementary inverters using spray-printed films of n-type small-molecule semiconductors and p-type conjugated polymers. Highly crystalline organic semiconductor films could be obtained by controlling the droplet size, nozzle-to-substrate distance, and solvent drying speed during the printing process. After the optimisation of the spray-printing process, the performances of the spray-printed OFETs were comparable to those of spin-coated and inkjet-printed OFETs. In addition to excellent device-to-device uniformity, the spray-printed n- and p-channel OFETs also exhibited high field-effect mobilities, which were ∼0.3 (ActivInk™ N1450, Polyera), ∼0.01 (regioregular-poly(3-hexylthiophene) (rr-P3HT)), and ∼0.25 cm2 V−1 s−1 (ActivInk™ P2100, Polyera). Organic complementary inverters were fabricated by spray printing and shadow-mask patterning while using ActivInk™ N1450 and P2100 as the n- and p-type semiconductors, respectively. The complementary inverters exhibited a large voltage gain (∼17) and a low power consumption (∼0.02 mW) at VDD = 60 V.

Large Enhancement of Carrier Transport in Solution-Processed Field-Effect Transistors by Fluorinated Dielectric Engineering

The universal role of high-k fluorinated dielectrics in assisting the carrier transport in transistors for a broad range of printable semiconductors is explored. These results present general rules for how to design dielectric materials and achieve devices with a high carrier concentration, low disorder, reliable operation, and robust properties.

Electron injection enhancement by a Cs-salt interlayer in ambipolar organic field-effect transistors and complementary circuits

Here we report the effects of a Cs-salt based charge injection interlayer on the characteristics of top-gate/bottom-contact (TG/BC) ambipolar polymer OFETs with poly(thienylenevinylene-co-phthalimide)s functionalized at the imide nitrogen with dodecyl (PTVPhI-C12). P-channel dominant PTVPhI-C12 ambipolar OFETs showed both an improved electron injection and blocked hole injection properties by insertion of a thermally deposited thin CsF interlayer between Au source/drain electrodes and the organic semiconductor. X-ray and UV photoelectron spectroscopy results exhibited that the work-function of the Au electrode progressively changed from −4.5 eV to −3.9 eV and the Fermi levels of PTVPhI-C12 concomitantly moved towards the LUMO level of the conjugated polymer with an increase of CsF thickness from 0 nm to 1.5 nm, respectively. Both the shifting of Au work-function and the molecular doping of PTVPhI-C12 by insertion of CsF provide an order of magnitude improved n-channel properties in p-channel dominant ambipolar PTVPhI-C12 OFETs. In the end, the characteristics of the PTVPhI-C12 complementary inverter were improved (gain > 23) by a selective deposition and optimization of the CsF interlayer thickness on the n-channel region of ambipolar CMOS inverters.

Synergistic High Charge-Storage Capacity for Multi-level Flexible Organic Flash Memory

Electret and organic floating-gate memories are next-generation flash storage mediums for printed organic complementary circuits. While each flash memory can be easily fabricated using solution processes on flexible plastic substrates, promising their potential for on-chip memory organization is limited by unreliable bit operation and high write loads. We here report that new architecture could improve the overall performance of organic memory, and especially meet high storage for multi-level operation. Our concept depends on synergistic effect of electrical characterization in combination with a polymer electret (poly(2-vinyl naphthalene) (PVN)) and metal nanoparticles (Copper). It is distinguished from mostly organic nano-floating-gate memories by using the electret dielectric instead of general tunneling dielectric for additional charge storage. The uniform stacking of organic layers including various dielectrics and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as an organic semiconductor, followed by thin-film coating using orthogonal solvents, greatly improve device precision despite easy and fast manufacture. Poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE)] as high-k blocking dielectric also allows reduction of programming voltage. The reported synergistic organic memory devices represent low power consumption, high cycle endurance, high thermal stability and suitable retention time, compared to electret and organic nano-floating-gate memory devices.

An approach for an advanced anode interfacial layer with electron-blocking ability to achieve high-efficiency organic photovoltaics.

The interfacial properties of PEDOT:PSS, pristine r-GO, and r-GO with sulfonic acid (SR-GO) in organic photovoltaic are investigated to elucidate electron-blocking property of PEDOT:PSS anode interfacial layer (AIL), and to explore the possibility of r-GO as electron-blocking layers. The SR-GO results in an optimized power conversion efficiency of 7.54% for PTB7-th:PC71BM and 5.64% for P3HT:IC61BA systems. By combining analyses of capacitance-voltage and photovoltaic-parameters dependence on light intensity, it is found that recombination process at SR-GO/active film is minimized. In contrast, the devices using r-GO without sulfonic acid show trap-assisted recombination. The enhanced electron-blocking properties in PEDOT:PSS and SR-GO AILs can be attributed to surface dipoles at AIL/acceptor. Thus, for electron-blocking, the AIL/acceptor interface should be importantly considered in OPVs. Also, by simply introducing sulfonic acid unit on r-GO, excellent contact selectivity can be realized in OPVs.

Simultaneous enhancement of electron injection and air stability in N-type organic field-effect transistors by water-soluble polyfluorene interlayers.

Here, we report the simultaneous attainment of efficient electron injection and enhanced stability under ambient conditions for top-gate/bottom-contact (TG/BC), n-type, organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) using water-soluble polyfluorene derivatives (WPFs). When inserting the WPF interlayers between a semiconductor and the BC Au electrodes, initially the ambipolar (6,6)-phenyl-C61butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) OFETs were fully converted to unipolar charge transport characteristics that were exclusively n-type with significantly increased electron mobilities as high as 0.12 cm(2)/(V s) and a decreased threshold voltage. These improvements were mostly attributed to the interfacial dipoles of WPF layers that aligned to form a favorable energy band structure for efficient electron injection and to effectively block counter charge carriers. These were confirmed when values for the reduced work function of metal electrodes with WPFs and their correlated contact resistance were measured via the ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy and the transmission-line method, respectively. Moreover, the WPF interlayers played an important role in air stability of PCBM OFETs that exhibited higher and appreciably enhanced by increasing the ethylene-oxide side chain lengths of WPFs, which presumably was due to the water/oxygen/ion capturing effects in the hydrophilic interlayers.

Precise Side-Chain Engineering of Thienylenevinylene–Benzotriazole-Based Conjugated Polymers with Coplanar Backbone for Organic Field Effect Transistors and CMOS-like Inverters

Two donor-acceptor (D-A) alternating conjugated polymers based on thienylenevinylene-benzotriazole (TV-BTz), PTV6B with a linear side chain and PTVEhB with a branched side chain, were synthesized and characterized for organic field effect transistors (OFETs) and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)-like inverters. According to density functional theory (DFT), polymers based on TV-BTz exhibit a coplanar and rigid structure with no significant twists, which could cause to an increase in charge-carrier mobility in OFETs. Alternating alkyl side chains of the polymers impacted neither the band gap nor the energy level. However, it significantly affected the morphology and crystallinity when the polymer films were thermally annealed. To investigate the effect of thermal annealing on the morphology and crystallinity, we characterized the polymer films using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and 2D-grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (2D-GIWAXD). Fibrillary morphologies with larger domains and increased crystallinity were observed in the polymer films after thermal annealing. These polymers exhibited improved charge-carrier mobilities in annealed films at 200 °C and demonstrated optimal OFET device performance with p-type transport characteristics with charge-carrier mobilities of 1.51 cm2/(V s) (PTV6B) and 2.58 cm2/(V s) (PTVEhB). Furthermore, CMOS-like inorganic (ZnO)-organic (PTVEhB) hybrid bilayer inverter showed that the inverting voltage (Vinv) was positioned near the ideal switching point at half (1/2) of supplied voltage (VDD) due to fairly balanced p- and n-channels.

Blending of n-type Semiconducting Polymer and PC61BM for an Efficient Electron-Selective Material to Boost the Performance of the Planar Perovskite Solar Cell

The highly efficient CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite solar cell (PeSC) is simply achieved by employing a blended electron-transport layer (ETL) consisting of PC61BM and P(NDI2OD-T2). The high molecular weight of P(NDI2OD-T2) allows for a thinned ETL with a uniform morphology that optimizes the PC61BM ETL more effectively. As a result of this enhancement, the power conversion efficiency of a PC61BM:P(NDI2OD-T2)-based PeSC is 25% greater than that of the conventional PC61BM based-PeSC; additionally, the incorporation of P(NDI2OD-T2) into PC61BM attenuates the dependence of the PeSC on the ETL-processing conditions regarding its performance. It is revealed that, in addition to the desirable n-type semiconducting characteristics of PC61BM:P(NDI2OD-T2)-including a higher electron-mobility and a more-effective electron selectivity of a blended ETL for an efficient electron extraction-the superior performance of a PC61BM:P(NDI2OD-T2) device is the result of a thinned and uniformly covered ETL on the perovskite layer.