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In electronics, the field-effect transistor (FET) is a crucial cornerstone and successful integration of this semiconductor device into circuit applications requires stable and ideal electrical characteristics over a wide range of temperatures and environments. Solution processing, using printing or coating techniques, has been explored to manufacture organic field-effect transistors (OFET) on flexible carriers, enabling radically novel electronics applications. Ideal electrical characteristics, in organic materials, are typically only found in single crystals. Tiresome growth and manipulation of these hamper practical production of flexible OFETs circuits. To date, neither devices nor any circuits, based on solution-processed OFETs, has exhibited an ideal set of characteristics similar or better than today's FET technology based on amorphous silicon. Here, bar-assisted meniscus shearing of dibenzo-tetrathiafulvalene to coat-process self-organized crystalline organic semiconducting domains with high reproducibility is reported. Including these coatings as the channel in OFETs, electric field and temperature-independent charge carrier mobility and no bias stress effects are observed. Furthermore, record-high gain in OFET inverters and exceptional operational stability in both air and water are measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematic investigation of the contact resistance in electrolyte-gated organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) demonstrates a dependence of source charge injection versus gate electrode work function. This analysis reveals contact-limitations at the source metal-semiconductor interface and shows that the contact resistance increases as low work function metals are used as the gate electrode. These findings are attributed to the establishment of a built-in potential that is high enough to prevent the Fermi-level pinning at the metal-organic interface. This results in an unfavorable energetic alignment of the source electrode with the valence band of the organic semiconductor. Since the operating voltage in the electrolyte-gated devices is on the same order as the variation of the work functions, it is possible to tune the contact resistance over more than one order of magnitude by varying the gate metal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-voltage organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) promise for low power consumption logic circuits. To enhance the efficiency of the logic circuits, the control of the threshold voltage of the transistors are based on is crucial. We report the systematic control of the threshold voltage of electrolyte-gated OFETs by using various gate metals. The influence of the work function of the metal is investigated in metal-electrolyte-organic semiconductor diodes and electrolyte-gated OFET5. A good correlation is found between the flat-band potential and the threshold voltage. The possibility to tune the threshold voltage over half the potential range applied and to obtain depletion-like (positive threshold voltage) and enhancement (negative threshold voltage) transistors is of great interest when integrating these transistors in logic circuits. The combination of a depletion-like and enhancement transistor leads to a clear improvement of the noise margins in depleted-load unipolar inverters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a dc model to simulate the static performance of electrolyte-gated organic field-effect transistors. The channel current is expressed as charge drift transport under electric field. The charges accumulated in the channel are considered being contributed from voltage-dependent electric-double-layer capacitance. The voltage-dependent contact effect and short-channel effect are also taken into account in this model. A straightforward and efficient methodology is presented to extract the model parameters. The versatility of this model is discussed as well. The model is verified by the good agreement between simulation and experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the possibility to maintain an electric polarization in an organic bilayer via ion trapping, i.e., without any external bias. In the cryptand-polyanion bilayer, ions of specific size can be strongly coordinated with organic macrocyclic molecules. Cations move from the polyanion layer to the cryptand layer upon applying a bias and are trapped in this layer. As a result, the voltage dependence of the polarization displays a hysteresis. The bilayer is then advantageously used as an electronic insulating layer in an organic field effect transistor. The ions trapping and de-trapping can be followed by the amplitude of the threshold voltage (Vth) shift as well as its temporal evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic Thin Film Transistors (OTFT), gated through an aqueous electrolyte, have extensively been studied as sensors in various applications. These water-gated devices are known to work both as electrochemical (Organic ElectroChemical Transistor – OECT) and field-effect (Organic Field-Effect Transistor – OFET) devices. To properly model and predict the response of water-gated OTFT sensors it is important to distinguish between the mechanism, field-effect or electrochemical, by which the transistor is modulated and thus how the gate signal can be affected by the analyte. In this present study we explore three organic polymer semiconductors, poly-(3-hexyl-thiophene) (P3HT), poly-(3-carboxy-pentyl-thiphene) (P3CPT) and a co-polymer P3HT–co-poly-(3-ethoxypentanoic acid-thiophene) (monomer ratio 1:6, P3HT–COOH15) in water-gated OTFT structures. We report a set of transistor characteristics, including standard output parameters, impedance spectroscopy and current transients, to investigate the origin of the mode of operation in these water-gated OTFTs. Impedance characteristics, including both frequency and voltage dependence, were recorded for capacitor stacks corresponding to the gate/electrolyte/semiconductor/source structure. It is shown that P3HT as well as P3HT–COOH15 both can function as semiconductors in water gated OTFT devices operating in field-effect mode. P3CPT on the other hand shows typical signs of electrochemical mode of operation. The –COOH side group has been suggested as a possible anchoring site for biorecognition elements in EGOFET sensors, rendering P3HT–COOH15 a possible candidate for such applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyelectrolytes are promising electronicallyinsulating layers for low-voltage organic field effect transistors.However, the polyelectrolyte–semiconductor interface is difficultto manufacture due to challenges in wettability. We introduce an amphiphilicsemiconducting copolymer which, when spread as a thin film, can changeits surface from hydrophobic to hydrophilic upon exposure to water.This peculiar wettability is exploited in the fabrication of polyelectrolyte-gatedfield-effect transistors operating below 0.5 V. The prepared amphiphilicsemiconducting copolymer is based on a hydrophobic regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene)(P3HT) covalently linked to a hydrophilic poly(sulfonated)-based randomblock. Such a copolymer is obtained in a three-step strategy combiningGrignard metathesis (GRIM), atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP)processes, and a postmodification method. The structure of the diblockcopolymer was characterized using FT-IR, 1H NMR spectroscopy,and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We report a method for inkjet-printing an organic semiconductor layer on top of the electrolyte insulator layer in polyelectrolyte-gated OFETs by using a surface modification treatment to overcome the underlying wettability problem at this interface. The method includes depositing an amphiphilic diblock copolymer (P3HT-b-PDMAEMA). This material is designed to have one set of blocks that mimics the hydrophobic properties of the semiconductor (poly(3-hexylthiophene) or P3HT), while the other set of blocks include polar components that improve adhesion to the polyelectrolyte insulator. Contact angle measurements, atomic force microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirm formation of the desired surface modification film. Successful inkjet printing of a smooth semiconductor layer allows us to manufacture complete transistor structures that exhibit low-voltage operation in the range of 1V. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Monolithic integration of an organic field-effect transistor (OFET) and an organic electrochromic display cell operating at around 1V is reported. This was achieved by utilising a common patterned layer of poly(styrenesulfonic acid) (PSSH). In the OFET, PSSH served as the electric double layer capacitors between the gate and the organic semiconductor channel. In the electrochromic pixel, PSSH was included as the electrolyte and transports protons from and to the electrochromic layer upon switching. The enhancement mode OFET enables a relatively faster updating speed, of the display cell, and provides a much simpler addressing and updating scheme as compared to smart pixels including a depletion mode electrochemical transistor. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]