The transit frequency of organic thin-film transistors is limited mainly by the contact resistance and the critical dimensions (channel length, gate-to-contact overlaps). Decreasing the contact resistance to within three orders of magnitude of the theoretical limit has led to flexible organic TFTs with a transit frequency of 21 MHz at 3 V for critical dimensions of about 1 µm. Using electron-beam lithography, flexible organic TFTs with channel lengths and gate-to-contact overlaps well below 1 µm were recently demonstrated that display reasonable static characteristics, but suffer from a larger contact resistance that limits the transit frequency to 36 MHz for p-channel and 8 MHz for n-channel TFTs (at 3 V). One of the challenges in improving the transit frequency of flexible organic TFTs to 100 MHz and beyond will be to minimize all three TFT parameters (contact resistance, channel length, gate-to-contact overlaps) simultaneously.
Using direct-write electron-beam lithography, low-voltage organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) with channel lengths and the parasitic gate-to-source and gate-to-drain overlaps as small as 100 nm have been fabricated on flexible polymeric substrates. Despite the small channel lengths and gate-to-contact overlaps, these TFTs display good static current-voltage characteristics, including on/off current ratios of nine orders of magnitude, subthreshold swings of about 100 mV/decade, turn-on voltages of 0 V, negligibly small threshold-voltage roll-off, and contact resistances below 1 kOhm-cm.
Using direct-write electron-beam lithography, low-voltage organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) with channel lengths and parasitic gate-to-source and gate-to-drain overlaps as small as 100 nm have been fabricated on flexible polymeric substrates. Despite the small channel lengths and gate-to-contact overlaps, these TFTs display good static current-voltage characteristics, including on/off current ratios of nine orders of magnitude, subthreshold swings of about 100 mV/decade, turn-on voltages of 0 V, negligibly small threshold-voltage roll-off, and contact resistances below 1 kOhm-cm. TFTs with such small critical dimensions are of interest for high-frequency applications.
Using Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (KPFM), we performed surface-potential measurements on operating organic thin-film transistors (TFTs). Several parameters inaccessible through current-voltage measurements were determined, namely the source and drain resistances separately, the threshold voltage and the electric field along the channel. We show that the source resistance is always higher than the drain resistance, and non-linear intrinsic behavior is demonstrated in some cases. The threshold voltage extracted by KPFM is different from that extracted from current-voltage measurements. By analyzing the tip response using calibration samples, the electric field at the source/channel interface can be estimated within a small error margin.
KEYWORDS: Dielectrics, Thin films, Transistors, Plasma, Electronics, Thin film devices, Thin film solar cells, Solar cells, Self-assembled monolayers, Aluminum
Ultrathin hybrid gate dielectrics composed of an inorganic metal oxide and an organic self-assembled monolayer are useful for low-voltage organic thin-film transistors by providing a large gate dielectric capacitance and minimizing gate leakage. In this work, we focus on the role of the thin metal oxide in the hybrid gate dielectric, by investigating a plasma-grown aluminum oxide and the effects of the plasma power and duration on the growth of the aluminum oxide and the resulting properties of the gate dielectric in organic TFTs.
Achieving gigahertz transit frequencies in low-voltage organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) will require a contact resistance below about 1 Ohm-cm [1,2]. A general approach to reduce the contact resistance in organic devices is to modify the surface of the metal contacts with a chemisorbed interface layer, ostensibly by reducing the nominal injection barrier. Combined with a thin gate dielectric, this approach can enable contact resistances below 30 Ohm-cm and transit frequencies above 10 MHz at low voltages in coplanar organic TFTs [3,4]. However, further reduction of the contact resistance depends strongly on non-idealities of the interface other than the nominal barrier height according to the Schottky-Mott limit. We show a detailed study on the efficacy of interface layers based on various thiols to improve the contact resistance in coplanar dinaphtho[2,3-b:2′,3′-f]thieno[3,2-b]thiophene (DNTT) TFTs. We compare the contact resistance of multiple sets of TFTs to results from ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy measurements and find strong evidence that Fermi-level pinning prevents a significant reduction of the contact resistance below about 100 Ohm-cm in DNTT TFTs. Therefore, we conclude that this approach may not be a generally sufficient method by itself to eliminate the contact resistance in organic TFTs.
Despite decades of research, the dynamic performance of organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) remains well below that of the best inorganic TFTs. By analyzing the fundamental equations for the transit frequency of field-effect transistors, we examine the parameter space in which organic TFTs are expected to have a transit frequency of 1 GHz and derive the requirements for achieving this goal. We show that a transit frequency of 1 GHz at supply voltages of 3 V requires the channel length and the gate-to-contact overlaps to be smaller than 1 micron and the contact resistance to be well below 10 Ohm-cm.
The characteristics of low-voltage n-channel organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) based on the small-molecule semiconductors N,N’-bis(2,2,3,3,4,4,4-fluorobutyl)-(1,7 & 1,6)-dicyano-perylene-tetracarboxylic diimide (ActivInk N1100) and 2,9-bis(heptafluoropropyl)-4,7,11,14-tetrabromo-1,3,8,10-tetraazaperopyrene (TAPP) are compared. Staggered and coplanar TFTs were fabricated, and all measurements were performed in ambient air. In the coplanar TFTs, the source and drain contacts were treated with one of three different thiols. Overall, the two semiconductors provide similar performance, with electron mobilities up to 0.15 cm2/Vs, on/off ratios up to five orders of magnitude, subthreshold slopes as small as 130 mV/decade and contact resistances (measured using the transmission line method) as small as 21 kOhm-cm.
The choice of a staggered or coplanar geometry for organic thin-film transistors (TFT) has significant effects on the static and dynamic electronic properties of the transistors. Using two-port network analysis, we find that the parasitic capacitances and thus the unity current-gain (transit) frequencies are significantly more dependent on the gate-to-source overlap in the staggered TFTs than in coplanar TFTs, and that the transit frequency is higher overall when a coplanar geometry is implemented. We show that these differences are primarily attributed to the lower contact resistance in the coplanar TFTs (10 Ohm-cm) as well as smaller parasitic capacitances associated with the gate-to-contact overlaps.
Ultrathin, oxygen-plasma-grown aluminum oxide layers form high-quality gate oxides in hybrid gate dielectrics for low-voltage organic thin-film transistors. In this work, we have investigated the materials properties of the AlOx layer, such as the thickness and the composition, using the techniques of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography to get atomic scale resolution information. We correlate these materials properties with the superior dielectric properties of the plasma-grown AlOx layer and the performance of AlOx-based hybrid gate dielectrics for organic TFTs.
Post-deposition semiconductor dewetting is the transformation of a (nearly) closed organic-semiconductor monolayer into separated individual islands of multilayer height [1]. We have recently observed this phenomenon in both ultra-thin (1-3 nm) and thin (25-40 nm) films of the small-molecule semiconductor dinaphthothienothiophene (DNTT) [2,3]. Since the gate-field-induced carrier channel is located in close vicinity to the semiconductor-dielectric interface, the accelerated pace of dewetting of ultra-thin semiconductor films is relevant to the performance and stability of organic thin-film transistors (TFTs). We have therefore fabricated bottom-gate, bottom-contact TFTs based on 2 nm and 25 nm-thick DNTT films. Compared to the relatively stable charge-carrier mobility of 1.1 cm2/Vs for the 25-nm-DNTT TFT, the 2-nm-DNTT TFTs show a sharp decrease from 0.2 cm2/Vs to 0.011 cm2/Vs over 72 hours after fabrication. To stabilize the TFT performance, we have explored strategies to prevent ultra-thin DNTT films from dewetting, including substrate cooling and semiconductor encapsulation, and fabricated stable DNTT TFTs with monolayer semiconductor thickness. Encapsulation with vacuum-deposited polytetrafluoroethene (PTFE) or titanyl phthalocyanine (TiOPc) leads to a relative decrease in mobility by only 12% and 44%, compared to 99.6% for TFTs without encapsulation over 28 hours after device fabrication. [1]T. Breuer et al., ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 9, 8384, (2017). [2]K. Takimiya et al., Sci. Technol. Adv. Mater., 8, 273, (2007). [3]U. Zschieschang et al., Organic Eletronics, 12, 1370, (2011).
A process for the fabrication of integrated circuits based on bottom-gate, top-contact organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) with channel lengths as short as 1 µm on flexible plastic substrates has been developed. In this process, all TFT layers (gate electrodes, organic semiconductors, source/drain contacts) are patterned with the help of high-resolution silicon stencil masks, thus eliminating the need for subtractive patterning and avoiding the exposure of the organic semiconductors to potentially harmful organic solvents or resists. The TFTs employ a low-temperature-processed gate dielectric that is sufficiently thin to allow the TFTs and circuits to operate with voltages of about 3 V. Using the vacuum-deposited small-molecule organic semiconductor 2,9-didecyl-dinaphtho[2,3-b:2’,3’-f]thieno[3,2-b]thiophene (C10 DNTT), TFTs with an effective field-effect mobility of 1.2 cm2/Vs, an on/off current ratio of 107, a width-normalized transconductance of 1.2 S/m (with a standard deviation of 6%), and a signal propagation delay (measured in 11-stage ring oscillators) of 420 nsec per stage at a supply voltage of 3 V have been obtained. To our knowledge, this is the first time that megahertz operation has been achieved in flexible organic transistors at supply voltages of less than 10 V. In addition to flexible ring oscillators, we have also demonstrated a 6-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) in a binary-weighted current-steering architecture, based on TFTs with a channel length of 4 µm and fabricated on a glass substrate. This DAC has a supply voltage of 3.3 V, a circuit area of 2.6 × 4.6 mm2, and a maximum sampling rate of 100 kS/s.
A process for the fabrication of integrated circuits based on bottom-gate, top-contact organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) with channel lengths as short as 1 µm on flexible plastic substrates has been developed. In this process, all TFT layers (gate electrodes, organic semiconductors, source/drain contacts) are patterned with the help of high-resolution silicon stencil masks, thus eliminating the need for subtractive patterning and avoiding the exposure of the organic semiconductors to potentially harmful organic solvents or resists. The TFTs employ a low-temperature-processed gate dielectric that is sufficiently thin to allow the TFTs and circuits to operate with voltages of about 3 V. Using the vacuum-deposited small-molecule organic semiconductor 2,9-didecyl-dinaphtho[2,3-b:2’,3’-f]thieno[3,2-b]thiophene (C10 DNTT), TFTs with an effective field-effect mobility of 1.2 cm2/Vs, an on/off current ratio of 107, a width-normalized transconductance of 1.2 S/m (with a standard deviation of 6%), and a signal propagation delay (measured in 11-stage ring oscillators) of 420 nsec per stage at a supply voltage of 3 V have been obtained. To our knowledge, this is the first time that megahertz operation has been achieved in flexible organic transistors at supply voltages of less than 10 V. In addition to flexible ring oscillators, we have also demonstrated a 6-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) in a binary-weighted current-steering architecture, based on TFTs with a channel length of 4 µm and fabricated on a glass substrate. This DAC has a supply voltage of 3.3 V, a circuit area of 2.6 × 4.6 mm2, and a maximum sampling rate of 100 kS/s.
Organic electronics are gaining increasing interest and attention in electronic device fabrication due to cost advantages
and low process manufacturing temperatures, which allow the use of mechanically-flexible polymeric substrates.
Different patterning techniques for Organic Thin Film Transistors (OTFT) with sub μm channel length are currently
under investigation like inkjet-printing, nanoimprint, optical- and e-beam lithography. This paper describes a new
approach for OTFT fabrication by device patterning with Si stencil lithography. This high resolution shadow mask
technique allows the parallel patterning of sub μm features without the use of photosensitive resists or chemical solvents,
which could lead to a degradation of the sensitive organic semiconductor layer. At first the device pattern is etched into a
thin Si membrane layer, creating design-specific sub μm features. Subsequent this stencil mask is aligned and clamped to
the substrate and material is deposited through the stencil apertures forming the desired device pattern onto the substrate.
By repeating this sequence with different deposition materials a classical top contact TFT architecture with a gate
electrode, gate dielectric, organic semiconductor and source drain contacts can be achieved.
We have successfully manufactured rubber-like large-area stretchable integrated circuits comprising printed elastic
conductors, organic transistor-based circuits, and silicon transistor-based circuits. Employing the first direct
integration of organic and silicon (Si) integrated circuits, we have realized to develop a stretchable electromagnetic
interference (EMI) measurement sheet that can detect EMI distribution on the surface of electronic devices by
wrapping the devices in the sheet. The stretchable devices can spread over arbitrary surfaces including free-formed
curvatures and movable parts, thereby significantly increasing the applications of electrical circuits.
Five core-dichlorinated naphthalene diimides (NDIs) bearing several fluoroalkyl-substituents at the imide nitrogens were
synthesized, characterized and employed in organic n-channel
thin-film transistors with a vacuum-deposited
semiconductor layer on 110 nm thick SiO2 (100 nm)/AlOx (8 nm)/SAM (1.7 nm) and 5.7 nm thick AlOx (3.6 nm)/SAM
(2.1 nm) gate dielectrics. The electron mobility of the thin-film transistors under ambient conditions is as large as
1.3 cm2/Vs on the thicker gate dielectric. On the thinner gate dielectric the mobility is lower (0.4 cm2/Vs) but enables
switching at gate-source voltages of only 3V. Such outstanding performance together with the feasible synthetic access
to these compounds make these semiconductors highly promising for
low-cost, large-area, and flexible electronics.
Gas proportional counter arrays based on the micro-well are an example of a new generation of detectors that exploit narrow anode-cathode gaps, rather than fine anodes, to create gas gain. These are inherently imaging pixel detectors that can be made very large for reasonable costs. Because of their intrinsic gain and room-temperature operation, they can be instrumented at very low power per unit area, making them valuable for a variety of space-flight applications where large-area X-ray imaging or particle tracking is required. We discuss micro-well detectors as focal plane imager for Lobster-ISS, a proposed soft X-ray all-sky monitor, and as electron trackers for the Next Generation High-Energy Gamma Ray mission. We have developed a fabrication technique using a masked UV laser that allows us both to machine micro-wells in polymer substrates and to pattern metal electrodes. We have used this technique to fabricate detectors which image X-rays by simultaneously reading out orthogonal anode and cathode strips. We present imaging results from these detectors, as well as gain and energy resolution measurements that agree well with results from other groups.
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