American Chemical Society
Browse
cm0c00234_si_001.pdf (1.58 MB)

Robust Unipolar Electron Conduction Using an Ambipolar Polymer Semiconductor with Solution-Processable Blends

Download (1.58 MB)
journal contribution
posted on 2020-08-07, 11:34 authored by Michael J. Ford, Mitsuharu Suzuki, Colin R. Bridges, Karen C. Bustillo, Martin Seifrid, Ming Wang, Hiroko Yamada, Thuc-Quyen Nguyen, Guillermo C. Bazan
Ambipolar polymer semiconductors are among the most ubiquitous semiconductors used for high-mobility organic field-effect transistors. However, since ambipolar polymer semiconductors are capable of conducting both holes and electrons in typical organic-field effect transistor architectures, these devices never reach a well-defined off-state, limiting wide use in low-power complementary devices. By using solution-processable tetrabenzoporphyrin derivatives that block hole conduction, we show that it is possible to improve on/off ratios by 3–4 orders of magnitude for an ambipolar polymer semiconductor. The ability to block hole conduction is dependent on processing conditions, namely, thermal annealing. An in-depth study of device architectures and morphology using grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering, atomic force microscopy, and electron microscopy suggests that morphology plays a key role in the ability of the additional component to block hole conduction, and tetrabenzoporphyin derivatives can be sensitive to thermal annealing conditions. By using alkylated tetrabenzoporphyrins, high on/off ratios that are resilient to thermal annealing are possible. This study presents a widely applicable route to high mobility n-channel organic field-effect transistors, which are required for efficient logic circuits.

History