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Magneto electroluminescence (MEL) is emerging as a powerful tool to study spin dynamics in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). The shape of the MEL response is typically used to draw qualitative inference on the dominant process (singlet fission or triplet fusion) in the device. In this study, we develop a quantitative model for MEL and apply it to devices based on Rubrene, and three solution processable anthradithiophene emitters. The four emitters allow us to systematically vary the film structure between highly textured, poly-crystalline to amorphous. We find significant diversity in the MEL, with the textured films giving highly structured responses. We find that the additional structure does not coincide with energy anti-crossings, but intersections in the singlet character between adjacent states. In all cases the MEL can be adequately described by an extended Merrifield model. Via the inclusion of charge injection, we are able to draw additional information on underlying physics in OLED devices.

Developing a fundamental understanding of charge transport in organic semiconductors has been a decades-long challenge that hinders performance improvement. In particular, recent work suggests that organic semiconductors have unique charge–phonon interactions where phonons temporarily interrupt the band structure causing a transient localization of charge carriers. Despite growing evidence to support this mechanism, further understanding and control will depend on pinpointing the molecular motions that cause substantial change to the band structure. Here we combine experimental and theoretical techniques to demonstrate the phonon energies and associated molecular motions governing the charge–phonon interaction in single crystal tetracene. We investigate phonon properties using polarized Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and density functional theory, and correlate this with the anisotropic mobility. We find that specific phonons disrupt the band orbital in the high-mobility direction, evident in the discrepancy between measured and static calculations of the mobility anisotropy ratio in tetracene. The electronic structure and transport properties of organic semiconductors are known not to follow standard semiconductor models and a complete understanding is still lacking in the literature. The authors experimentally and theoretically demonstrate the role of phonon–charge interactions on the highest occupied molecular orbital and mobility of the organic semiconductor tetracene.

The tunnel-FET (TFET) is a promising candidate for future low-power logic applications, because it enables a sub-60-mV/decadesubthresholdswing. However, themost experimental TFETs are plagued by unwanted trap-assisted tunneling (TAT) and Shockley–Read–Hall (SRH) carrier generation, which degrade the swing and increase the leakage floor, hence forming a major roadblock for TFET adoption. This degradation is attributed to bulk traps, semiconductor/oxideinterface traps, and/or heterojunction interface traps, but it is still unclear which of the three trap types are dominant. In this paper, we focus on TAT and SRH caused by bulk traps. We calibrate SRH and TAT models with the help of In0.53Ga0.47As p+/n+ and p+/i/n+ diodes grown on lattice matched substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). We then perform calibrated simulations of an In0.53Ga0.47As TFET, which show bulk SRH and TAT are sufficiently low compared with the target OFF-state current and, hence, not a significant issue. Therefore, it is likely that high SRH and TAT commonly observed in experimental homojunction InGaAs TFETs, MBE-grown on lattice matched substrates, are not caused by bulk semiconductor defects, but by semiconductor/oxide interface defects.

Realization of the full promise of solution deposited photovoltaic devices requires processes compatible with high-speed manufacturing. We report the performance and morphology of blade-coated bulk heterojunction devices based on the small molecule donor p-DTS(FBTTh2)2 when treated with a post-deposition solvent vapor annealing (SVA) process. SVA with tetrahydrofuran improves the device performance of blade-coated films more than solvent additive processing (SA) with 1,8-diiodooctane. In spin-coating, SA and SVA achieve similar device performance. Our optimized, blade coated, SVA devices achieve power conversion efficiencies over 8% and maintain high efficiencies in films up to ≈250 nm thickness, providing valuable resilience to small process variations in high-speed manufacturing. Using impedance spectroscopy, we show that this advantageous behavior originates from highly suppressed bimolecular recombination in the SVA-treated films. Electron microscopy and grazing-incidence X-ray scattering experiments show that SA and SVA both produce highly crystalline donor domains, but SVA films have a radically smaller domain size compared to SA films. We attribute the different behavior to variations in initial nucleation density and relative ability of SVA and SA to control subsequent crystal growth.

Spin-dependent nonlinear processes in organic materials such as singlet-fission and triplet-triplet annihilation could increase the performance for photovoltaics, detectors, and light emitting diodes. Rubrene/C60 light emitting diodes exhibit a distinct low voltage (half-bandgap) threshold for emission. Two origins for the low voltage turn-on have been proposed: (i) Auger assisted energy up-conversion, and (ii) triplet-triplet annihilation. We test these proposals by systematically altering the rubrene/C60 interface kinetics by introducing thin interlayers. Quantitative analysis of the unmodified rubrene/C60 device suggests that higher order processes can be ruled out as the origin of the sub-bandgap turn-on. Rather, band-to-band recombination is the most likely radiative recombination process. However, insertion of a bathocuproine layer yields a 3-fold increase in luminance compared to the unmodified device. This indicates that suppression of parasitic interface processes by judicious modification of the interface allows a triplet-triplet annihilation channel to be observed. Conflicting mechanisms have been proposed to explain the sub-bandgap turn-on behaviour of heterojunction organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Here, by probing and modifying the OLED heterojunction, the authors show that band-to-band recombination is the most likely radiative recombination process.

The optical properties of chemical vapor deposition grown graphene were measured with high accuracy by spectroscopy ellipsometry in the energy range of 0.7 eV–9.0 eV, which is spectrally broader compared with those reported in literature. The refractive index (n) and extinction coefficient (k) of graphene were accurately obtained and compared with directly measured transmittance data. The absorption of graphene follows the well-known fine structure constant in the visible range, becomes lower below 1 eV, and shows a strong absorption peak around 4.8 eV. The latter was attributed to the resonant excitons near the van Hove singularity at the M point of the Brillouin zone. A higher energy absorption peak was observed at 6.4 eV resulting from the excitonic effect of the σ-to-σ∗ transition at the Γ point of the Brillouin zone. The multi-layer graphene, fabricated by repeated transfer, exhibit similar optical properties to mono-layer graphene and the 4.8 eV absorption peak exhibits a layer-number dependent peak shift, similar to the exfoliated AB-stacked multi-layer graphene. The broadband optical properties reported in this letter are believed to enhance the understanding of the optical properties of graphene and will benefit the development of graphene-based optoelectronic devices.

It is well known that the morphology of organic semiconductor fi lms plays a signifi cant role in dictating their electrical properties. In particular, anisotropic packing of organic semiconductors typically results in anisotropic charge transport properties, as has been demonstrated for a number of organic semiconductor materials. [ 1–12 ] In single crystal small molecule semiconductors such as rubrene, the anisotropy in charge transport can be directly related to the molecular packing structure and subsequent band structure. [ 13,14 ] In conjugated polymers, orienting the polymer long-axis to be primarily in one-direction has been shown to result in anisotropic charge transport for a number of polymers including poly(3-hexylthiphene) (P3HT), [ 1,11,15 ] poly[9,9′-dioctylfl uorene-co-bithiophene] (F8BT), [ 4,16 ] and Poly[2,5-bis(3-tetradecylthiophen-2-yl) thieno[3,2b ]thiophene] (pBTTT), [ 3,6,12 ]

Modulated photocurrent spectroscopy was used to investigate the dynamic response of charge carrier transport in thin film CdTe/CdS solar cells. The impact of light bias and temperature over a broad excitation frequency range were measured. The observed features of the data, including a photocurrent ‘phase-lead’ and a ‘phase-lag’ over different regions of the frequency spectrum, were explored in the context of an equivalent circuit model. Comparisons between the model's predicted performance and the measured data suggest that charge carrier recombination at the cell's back metal/semiconductor contact is the main source of photocurrent loss in these devices.

Parameters used to describe the electrical properties of organic field-effect transistors, such as mobility and threshold voltage, are commonly extracted from measured current–voltage characteristics and interpreted by using the classical metal oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor model. However, in recent reports of devices with ultra-high mobility (>40 cm2 V−1 s−1), the device characteristics deviate from this idealized model and show an abrupt turn-on in the drain current when measured as a function of gate voltage. In order to investigate this phenomenon, here we report on single crystal rubrene transistors intentionally fabricated to exhibit an abrupt turn-on. We disentangle the channel properties from the contact resistance by using impedance spectroscopy and show that the current in such devices is governed by a gate bias dependence of the contact resistance. As a result, extracted mobility values from d.c. current–voltage characterization are overestimated by one order of magnitude or more., Charge mobility, extracted from current–voltage curves, is an important parameter for evaluating the performance of organic field-effect transistors. Bittle et al. show that charge mobility can be overestimated by one order of magnitude due to the gate bias dependence of the charge injection process.

A comprehensive structure and performance study of thin blend films of the small-molecule semiconductor, 2,8-difluoro-5,11-bis(triethylsilylethynyl)anthradithiophene (diF-TESADT), with various insulating binder polymers in organic thin-film transistors is reported. The vertically segregated composition profile and nanostructure in the blend films are characterized by a combination of complementary experimental methods including grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, neutron reflectivity, variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry, and near edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. Three polymer binders are considered: atactic poly(α-methylstyrene), atactic poly(methylmethacrylate), and syndiotactic polystyrene. The choice of polymer can strongly affect the vertical composition profile and the extent of crystalline order in blend films due to the competing effects of confinement entropy, interaction energy with substrate surfaces, and solidification kinetics. The variations in the vertically segregated composition profile and crystalline order in thin blend films explain the significant impacts of binder polymer choice on the charge carrier mobility of these films in the solution-processed bottom-gate/bottom-contact thin-film transistors.

The application of 1H spin diffusion nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is expanded to polymer-fullerene blends for bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaics (OPV) by developing a new experimental methodology for measuring the thin films used in poly-3-hexylthiophene–phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT-PCBM) OPV devices and by creating an analysis framework for estimating domain size distributions. It is shown that variations in common P3HT-PCBM BHJ processing parameters such as spin-coating speed and thermal annealing can significantly affect domain size distributions, which in turn affect power conversion efficiency. 1H spin diffusion NMR analysis reveals that films spin-cast at fast speeds in dichlorobenzene are primarily composed of small (

A novel method of strain-aligning polymer films is introduced and applied to regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), showing several important features of charge transport. The polymer backbone is shown to align in the direction of applied strain resulting in a large charge-mobility anisotropy, where the in-plane mobility increases in the applied strain direction and decreases in the perpendicular direction. In the aligned film, the hole mobility is successfully represented by a two-dimensional tensor, suggesting that charge transport parallel to the polymer backbone within a P3HT crystal is strongly favored over the other crystallographic directions. Hole mobility parallel to the backbone is shown to be high for a mixture of plane-on and edge-on packing configurations, as the strain alignment is found to induce a significant face-on orientation of the originally highly edge-on oriented crystalline regions of the film. This alignment approach can achieve an optical dichroic ratio of 4.8 and a charge-mobility anisotropy of 9, providing a simple and effective method to investigate charge-transport mechanisms in polymer semiconductors.

Solution-processable small molecules have tremendous potential in macroelectronics applications by providing both high charge carrier mobility and low cost processing. Fluorinated 5,11-bis(triethylsilylethynl) anthradithiophene enables high performance thin film transistors due, in part, to a self-patterning process where crystals grow from chemically tailored contacts and bridge the transistor channel. This paper outlines a detailed microstructural study that identifies the crystallization mechanisms of the self-patterning. Two crystal habits are observed: we find that crystals on chemically modified electrodes predominantly form (001) oriented platelets while untreated surfaces form a fine mixture of (001) and (111) oriented crystals. For (001) oriented platelets, the (010) fast growth face lies in the plane of the film and allows extended growth from platelets nucleated on the electrode into the transistor channel. The in-plane charge carrier mobility of the (001) platelets is high; for short channel l...

Poly(2,5-Bis(3-alkylthiophen-2-yl)thieno[3,2-b]thiophenes (pBTTTs) are a new class of solution-processable polymer semiconductors with high charge carrier mobilities that rival amorphous silicon. This exceptional performance is thought to originate in the microstructure of pBTTT fi lms, which exhibit high crystallinity and a surface topography of wide terraces. However, the true lateral grain size has not been determined, despite the critical impact grain boundaries can have on the charge transport of polymer semiconductors. Here a strategy for determining the lateral grain structure of pBTTT using dark-fi eld transmission electron microscopy (DF-TEM) and subsequent image analysis is presented. For the fi rst time, it is revealed that the in-plain pBTTT crystal orientation varies smoothly across a length scale signifi cantly less than one micrometer (e.g., with only small angles between adjacent diffracting regions). The pBTTT polymers thus exhibit an in-plane liquid crystalline texture. This microstructure is different from what has been reported for small molecule semiconductors or polymer semiconductors such as poly (3-hexyl thiophene) (P3HT). Even though fi lms processed differently exhibit different apparent domain sizes, they exhibit similar charge carrier hopping activation energies because they possess similar low densities of abrupt grain boundaries.

We have developed compact and physics-based distributed numerical models for cryogenic bulk MOSFET operation down to 20 K to advance simulation and first-pass design of device and circuit operation at low temperatures. To achieve this, we measured and simulated temperature-dependent current-voltage characteristics of 0.16- and 0.18- bulk MOSFETs. Our measurements indicate that these MOSFETs supply approximately 40% more current in the saturation and linear regions of operation when they are cooled from room temperature to 20 K. The threshold voltage monotonically increases as the temperature is lowered, but it saturates below 40 K. The subthreshold slope decreases with the temperature lowering but at a rate that is less than theoretically predicted. The extrapolation of the subthreshold slope indicates a finite value at near absolute zero. We show that the measured behavior can be well corroborated with distributed numerical simulations using the drift-diffusion transport model. In addition, to obtain a compact model for use in low-temperature circuit design, SPICE-type compact models need to be modified to incorporate the subtle temperature effects that are not part of the standard models. To this end, we use the analog behavioral language Verilog-A and the BSIM3 model equation set to include additional temperature dependences into the standard compact models to accurately reproduce measured characteristics.

It has recently been shown that surface energy effects can cause selective segregation at the active layer interfaces of a bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaic device. The active layer interface composition has been suggested to impact device performance. In this study changes in the BHJ vertical composition profile of BHJ active layers cast on two hole transport layers (HTL) with significantly different surface energies (γ) are characterized using spectroscopic ellipsometry and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. Changes in the HTL γ are shown to significantly affect the BHJ interfacial segregation at the buried interface near the HTL while the composition near the free surface (air) of the BHJ is unaffected. Despite the significant differences in vertical segregation at the HTL interface, the performances of the resulting organic photovoltaic devices were relatively similar.

SnSe2 is currently considered a potential two-dimensional material that can form a near-broken gap heterojunction in a tunnel field-effect transistor due to its large electron affinity which is experimentally confirmed in this letter. With the results from internal photoemission and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy performed on Al/Al2O3/SnSe2/GaAs and SnSe2/GaAs test structures where SnSe2 is grown on GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy, we ascertain a (5.2 ± 0.1) eV electron affinity of SnSe2. The band offset from the SnSe2 Fermi level to the Al2O3 conduction band minimum is found to be (3.3 ± 0.05) eV and SnSe2 is seen to have a high level of intrinsic electron (n-type) doping with the Fermi level positioned at about 0.2 eV above its conduction band minimum. It is concluded that the electron affinity of SnSe2 is larger than that of most semiconductors and can be combined with other appropriate semiconductors to form near broken-gap heterojunctions for the tunnel field-effect transistor that can potentially achieve high on-currents.

Organic semiconductors are emerging as a viable alternative to amorphous silicon in a range of thin-film transistor devices. With the possibility to formulate these p-type materials as inks and subsequently print into patterned devices, organic-based transistors offer significant commercial advantages for manufacture, with initial applications such as low performance displays and simple logic being envisaged. Previous limitations of both air stability and electrical performance are now being overcome with a range of both small molecule and polymer-based solution-processable materials, which achieve charge carrier mobilities in excess of 0.5 cm 2 V -1 s -1 , a benchmark value for amorphous silicon semiconductors. Polymer semiconductors based on thienothiophene copolymers have achieved amongst the highest charge carrier mobilities in solution-processed transistor devices. In this Progress Report, we evaluate the advances and limitations of this class of polymer in transistor devices.

We present the first characterization of single-crystal devices of a new solution processable material that we have previously demonstrated achieves technologically relevant performance in the polycrystalline thin film state. Our studies include growth and investigation of structural, as well as electronic properties of single crystals of 2,8-difluoro-5,11-bis(triethylsilylethynyl) anthradithiophene (diF-TESADT). Field-effect transistors fabricated on the surface of diF-TESADT single crystals exhibit excellent electronic properties: mobility as high as 6 cm2/Vs, large current on/off ratios (Ion/Ioff = 1 × 108), small subthreshold slopes (S = 1 V/dec), and extremely small hysteresis in the current−voltage characteristics. These properties, coupled with solution processability, make diF-TESADT attractive for electronic applications and demonstrate the technological potential of soluble oligomers.

We report on a simple a method of inducing self-isolation of the thin film transistors via manipulation of the chemical interactions between the organic molecules and the surfaces where they are deposited. We use pentafluorobenzenethiol (PFBT) treatment of the contacts and investigate the thin film formation of different types of chemical compounds. In particular, three similar organic molecules: triisopropyl-silylethynyl pentacene (TIPS pentacene), triisopropyl-silylethynyl peri-fluoro-pentacene (TIPS PFP) and triisopropyl-silylethynyl cata-fluoro-pentacene (TIPS CFP), were studied and compared to better understand how the molecular, crystal structure and thin film formation influence the electrical behavior of devices fabricated with them. The molecules exhibit significantly different interactions with the chemically treated substrates. The field-effect mobilities of these devices are directly related to their thin film microstructure.

The carrier mobility of poly(2,5-bis(3-alkylthiophen-2-yl)thieno[3,2-b]thiophene) semiconductors can be substantially enhanced after heating through a thermotropic mesophase transition, which causes a significant improvement in thin film structural order. By directly measuring film structure throughout a heating and cooling cycle, we identify the molecular origin of this mesophase transition as the melting of interdigitated linear alkane side chains, in this case quaterdecyl. The morphology and phase behavior throughout the thermal cycle are controlled by the changing conformation of the side chains. Surprisingly, the melting of the side chains allows increases in the backbone order, p-p stacking, and carrier mobility. Upon cooling, the side chains recrystallize to preserve the excellent mesophase order and enhanced electrical performance.

We present a modular numerical model for organic thin-film field-effect transistors (OTFTs) that allows for an arbitrary density of states to be independently defined for the semiconductor bulk and the semiconductor surface next to the gate insulator. We can derive the surface charge density dependence on the interface field as well as the space-charge-limited current characteristics. Together with a model of the contacts, we arrive at a physical model that is applied to a series of OTFTs in staggered inverted (top contact) geometry with various gate insulator treatments.

Extremely scaled high-k gate dielectrics with high quality electrical interfaces with arsenide (As) and antimonide (Sb) channels are used to demonstrate complimentary ‘all III–V’ Heterojunction Vertical Tunnel FET (HVTFET) with record performance at |V DS |=0.5V. The p-type TFET (PTFET) has I ON =30µA/µm and I ON /I OFF =105, whereas the n-type TFET (NTFET) has I ON =275µA/µm and I ON /I OFF =3×105, respectively. NTFET shows 55mV/decade switching slope (SS) while PTFET shows 115mV/decade SS in pulsed mode measurement. Vertical TFET offers 77% higher effective drive strength than Si-FinFET for given inverter standard cell area. Energy-delay performance of TFET shows gain over CMOS for low V DD logic applications.

We demonstrate controllable shift of the threshold voltage and the turn-on voltage in pentacene thin film transistors and rubrene single crystal field effect transistors (FET) by the use of nine organosilanes with different functional groups. Prior to depositing the organic semiconductors, the organosilanes were applied to the SiO2 gate insulator from solution and form a self assembled monolayer (SAM). The observed shift of the transfer characteristics range from -2 to 50 V and can be related to the surface potential of the layer next to the transistor channel. Concomitantly the mobile charge carrier concentration at zero gate bias reaches up to 4*10^12/cm^2. In the single crystal FETs the measured transfer characteristics are also shifted, while essentially maintaining the high quality of the subthreshold swing. The shift of the transfer characteristics is governed by the built-in electric field of the SAM and can be explained using a simple energy level diagram. In the thin film devices, the subthreshold region is broadened, indicating that the SAM creates additional trap states, whose density is estimated to be of order 1*10^12/cm^2., Comment: to be published in J. Appl. Phys

Ambipolar charge injection and transport are a prerequisite for a light-emitting organic fieldeffect transistor (OFET). Organic materials, however, typically show unipolar charge-carrier transport characteristics. Consequently, organic thin-film field-effect transistors based on a single material as active layer can typically either be operated as p- or as n-channel device. In this article we show that by using a heterostructure with pentacene as hole-transport and N,N′-Ditridecylperylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI-C13H27) as electron-transport material, ambipolar characteristics, i.e., simultaneous p- and n-channel formation, can be observed in a single device. An OFET structure is investigated in which electrons and holes are injected from Mg top and Au bottom contacts into the PTCDI-C13H27 and pentacene layers, respectively. Our device exhibits electron and hole mobilities of 3×10−3 and 1×10−4 cm2/V s, respectively. This device architecture serves as a model structure for ambipolar field-e...

Systematic studies are a prerequisite for a detailed understanding of the internal processes in organic semiconductors and devices, which is of great importance for optimizing organic light-emitting diode performance. Devices based on small molecules are especially well-suited for introducing thin layers (

We report on the contact resistances for pentacene thin film transistors with two different designs: top and bottom contact configurations (referred to as TC and BC TFTs, respectively) for two different contact metals (gold and palladium). The extraction was done based on the dependencies of the channel resistances on the gate length and gate voltage. The extracted gold TC TFT contact resistance depends on VGS, but shows no dependence on the drain bias. The TC TFT contact resistance is comparable to or exceeds the channel resistance for channels shorter than approximately 10 μm. The contact resistance of BC TFTs depends both on gate and drain bias. We propose a circuit simulating the BC TFT contact resistance and verify the circuit applicability by extracting and comparing the TFT channel resistances at different drain voltages. Our results reveal an important role played by contact resistances and provide an accurate model of the contact phenomena suitable for implementation in Spice or other circuit simulators.

Organic semiconductors hold immense promise for the development of a wide range of innovative devices with their excellent electronic and manufacturing characteristics. Of particular interest are nonmagnetic organic semiconductors that show unusual magnetic field effects (MFEs) at small subtesla field strength that can result in substantial changes in their optoelectronic and electronic properties. These unique phenomena provide a tremendous opportunity to significantly impact the functionality of organic-based devices and may enable disruptive electronic and spintronic technologies. Here, we present an approach to vary the MFEs on the electrical resistance of organic-based systems in a simple yet reliable fashion. We experimentally modify the interfacial characteristics by adding a self-assembled monolayer between the metal electrode and the organic semiconductor, thus enabling the tuning of competing MFE mechanisms coexisting in organic semiconductors. This approach offers a robust method for tuning the magnitude and sign of magnetoresistance in organic semiconductors without compromising the ease of processing.

Large perturbation transient photovoltage and impedance spectroscopy measurements are used to gain insights into recombination in organic photovoltaic devices. The combination of these two simple optoelectronic techniques enables characterization of recombination order as well as mobile and trapped charge evolution over a large range of carrier densities. The data show that trapped charge is approximately equal to total charge at low carrier densities in the high efficiency devices measured. Between low and high charge carrier density, the order of recombination is observed to vary from monomolecular to bimolecular to higher order. The new techniques and methods presented can be applied to any type of photovoltage device to gain insight into device operation and limitations.

We report on modeling of direct current (DC) characteristics of organic pentacene thin film transistors of different designs. Our model incorporates a gate-voltage dependent mobility and highly nonlinear drain and source contact series resistances. The contact nonlinearities are especially pronounced in bottom source and drain contact thin film transistors. The model successfully reproduced both below- and above-threshold characteristics of top source and drain contact and bottom source and drain contact organic pentacene thin film transistors.

We report on the flicker (1/f ) noise in pentacene organic thin film transistors (TFTs) of different designs. Our studies show that the TFT design affects the noise level and the noise dependence on the gate- and drain-source biases. The measured noise level was the lowest for the TFTs with a top source and drain contacts design. For these devices, the noise dependence at low drain current values resembled that for n-type crystalline Si metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors. The extracted Hooge parameter α, which allows comparing the noise level in different devices and materials, was 0.045 for the top-contact TFTs. This parameter value is several orders of magnitude lower than that for conducting polymers and only several times higher than that for hydrogenated amorphous Si (α-Si:H) TFTs. The bottom source and drain contacts TFTs had a much higher noise level with a noise dependence on the terminal voltages that differed from the noise voltage dependence for the top-contact TFTs. The Hooge parameter values were in the range of 5–20 for the bottom-contact TFTs. We estimated that the contact noise could be comparable to the channel noise for both top-contact and bottom-contact TFTs.

A rewriteable low-power operation nonvolatile physically flexible memristor device is demonstrated. The active component of the device is inexpensively fabricated at room temperature by spinning a TiO2 sol gel on a commercially available polymer sheet. The device exhibits memory behavior consistent with a memristor, demonstrates an on/off ratio greater than 10 000 : 1, is nonvolatile for over 1.2 times 106 s, requires less than 10 V, and is still operational after being physically flexed more than 4000 times.

We have fabricated organic thin-film transistors (TFT's) using the small-molecule polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon pentacene as the active material. Devices were fabricated on glass substrates using low-temperature ion-beam deposited silicon dioxide as the gate dielectric, ion-beam deposited palladium for the source and drain contacts, and vacuum-evaporated pentacene to form the active layer. Excellent electrical characteristics were obtained, including carrier mobility as large as 0.6 cm/sup 2//V-s, on/off current ratio as large as 10/sup 8/, and subthreshold slope as low as 0.7 V/dec, all record values for organic transistors fabricated on nonsingle-crystal substrates.

The performance of organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) has improved significantly in the last several years and it now appears likely that they will find application in low-cost large-area electronic applications. Active-matrix displays are of special interest and integration of OTFTs with organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) in all-organic displays is particularly attractive. The device requirements for active-matrix OLED displays are very similar to those of active-matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs) and can be satisfied with OTFTs fabricated using stacked pentacene active layers. Such devices have demonstrated field-effect mobility near 1.5 cm/sup 2//V/spl middot/s, on/off current ratio near 10/sup 8/, near-zero threshold voltage, and subthreshold slope less than 1.6 V/decade. These characteristics are similar to those obtained with hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) devices and such devices would allow the use of polymeric substrates with advantages in weight, ruggedness, and cost compared to glass substrates currently used with a-Si:H devices in AMLCDs.

The Tunneling Field-Effect Transistor (TFET) is currently considered to be a promising candidate for future low power electronic device applications because of its potential to achieve less than 60mV/decade subthreshold slope. Broken-gap hetero-junction TFETs are particularly attractive because they have been shown to have improved on-state performance compared to other TFET architectures due to the lower tunnel barrier heights.[1] Accurate band alignment determination is therefore critical to the design of proper band offsets at the hetero-junction interface. Here, we report the first complete band alignment determination for these structures by tailoring the layer thickness of the junction [2] and then using of graphene as transparent electrodes in an internal photo emission (IPE) me asurement to probe both electron and hole emission[3].

The outstanding electrical and optical properties of graphene make it an excellent alternative as a transparent electrode. Here we demonstrate the application of graphene as collector material in internal photoemission (IPE) spectroscopy; enabling the direct observation of both electron and hole injections at a Si/Al2O3 interface and successfully overcoming the long-standing difficulty of detecting holes injected from a semiconductor emitter in IPE measurements. The observed electron and hole barrier heights are 3.5 eV and 4.1 eV, respectively. Thus the bandgap of Al2O3 can be further deduced to be 6.5 eV, in close agreement with the valued obtained by vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis. The detailed optical modeling of a graphene/Al2O3/Si stack reveals that by using graphene in IPE measurements the carrier injection from the emitter is significantly enhanced and the contribution of carrier injection from the collector electrode is minimal. The method can be readily extended to various IPE test structures for a complete band alignment analysis and interface characterization., 15 pages, 5 figures

We report the direct measurement of the Dirac point, the Fermi level, and the work function of graphene by performing internal photoemission measurements on a graphene/SiO(2)/Si structure with a unique optical-cavity enhanced test structure. A complete electronic band alignment at the graphene/SiO(2)/Si interfaces is accurately established. The observation of enhanced photoemission from a one-atom thick graphene layer was possible by taking advantage of the constructive optical interference in the SiO(2) cavity. The photoemission yield was found to follow the well-known linear density-of-states dispersion in the vicinity of the Dirac point. At the flat band condition, the Fermi level was extracted and found to reside 3.3 eV ± 0.05 eV below the bottom of the SiO(2) conduction band. When combined with the shift of the Fermi level from the Dirac point, we are able to ascertain the position of the Dirac point at 3.6 eV ± 0.05 eV with respect to the bottom of the SiO(2) conduction band edge, yielding a work function of 4.5 eV ± 0.05 eV which is in an excellent agreement with theory. The accurate determination of the work function of graphene is of significant importance to the engineering of graphene-based devices, and the measurement technique we have advanced in this Letter will have significant impact on numerous applications for emerging graphene-like 2-dimensional material systems.

We demonstrate a graphene-based electro-absorption modulator achieving extraordinary control of terahertz reflectance. By concentrating the electric field intensity in an active layer of graphene, an extraordinary modulation depth of 64% is achieved while simultaneously exhibiting low insertion loss (∼2 dB), which is remarkable since the active region of the device is atomically thin. This modulator performance, among the best reported to date, indicates the enormous potential of graphene for terahertz reconfigurable optoelectronic devices.

We report the first direct measurement of the Dirac point, the Fermi level, and the work function of single layer gapless graphene by using photoemission threshold spectroscopy. Since the pioneering work of Novoselov et al in 2004, [1] graphene has attracted an immense amount of interest from all disciplines. [2] The knowledge of the physics of graphene-based devices has grown dramatically. Along with the recent success of large area chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth of graphene, [3] it seems the industrial applications such as transparent electrodes, [4] field effect transistors, [5] and quantum well devices [6] are becoming more promising. However, the precise position of the Dirac point and Fermi level at the graphene/oxide interface has yet to be investigated; despite their importance in the design and modeling of graphene-based devices. In this paper, we present the study of a semi-transparent metal/high-k/graphene/SiO 2 /Si structure, and focus our study on the photoemission phenomena at the graphene/SiO 2 interface. As a result, a complete electronic band alignment of the graphene/SiO 2 /Si system is accurately constructed for the first time.

Staggered tunnel junction (GaAs 0.35 Sb 0.65 /In 0.7 Ga 0.3 As) is used to demonstrate heterojunction tunnel FET (TFET) with the highest drive current, I on , of 135µA/µm and highest I on /I off ratio of 2.7×104 (V ds =0.5V, V on −V off =1.5V). Effective oxide thickness (EOT) scaling (using Al 2 O 3 /HfO 2 bilayer gate stack) coupled with pulsed I–V measurements (suppressing D it response) enable demonstration of steeper switching TFET.

We report on organic thin-film transistors fabricated using the small-molecule organic semiconductor naphthacene as the active layer material with device performance suitable for several large-area or low-cost electronics applications. We investigated naphthacene thin films deposited by thermal evaporation onto amorphous substrates held near room temperature. Using atomic-force microscopy and x-ray diffraction we find naphthacene films consist of a high density of submicron-sized grains with a surprisingly high degree of molecular order. Thin-film transistors fabricated using evaporated naphthacene films on thermally oxidized silicon substrates have field-effect mobility larger than 0.1 cm2/V s, current on/off ratio greater than 106, negative threshold voltage, and subthreshold slope of 1 V/decade.

We have fabricated organic thin-film transistor (OTFT)-driven active matrix liquid crystal displays on flexible polymeric substrates. These small displays have 16×16 pixel polymer-dispersed liquid crystal arrays addressed by pentacene active layer OTFTs. The displays were fabricated using a low-temperature process (

We have fabricated pentacene active layer organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) using chemically-modified source and drain contacts with improved contact and linear region characteristics. OTFTs fabricated on heavily doped, thermally oxidized single-crystal silicon substrates have linear field-effect mobility greater than 0.5 cm/sup 2//V-s at a drain-source voltage of -0.1 V, on/off current ratio greater than 10/sup 7/, and subthreshold slope as low as 0.7 V/decade.

We have fabricated and characterized analog and digital circuits using organic thin-film transistors on polyester film substrates. These are the first reported dynamic results for organic circuits fabricated on polyester substrates. The high-performance pentacene transistors yield circuits with the highest reported clock frequencies for organic circuits.