Improving performance of TIPS pentacene-based organic thin film transistors with small-molecule additives

Zhengran He, Jihua Chen, Jong Kahk Keum, Greg Szulczewski, Dawen Li

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

62 Scopus citations

Abstract

This work demonstrates an effective approach to improve both charge transport and performance consistency in solution-processed organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) by blending 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)pentacene (TIPS pentacene, or TP) with a series of small-molecule additives: 4-butylbenzoic acid (BBA), 4-hexylbenzoic acid (HBA), and 4-octylbenzoic acid (OBA). These three small molecules share a benzoic acid moiety, but have different length of hydrophobic tails. The self-assembled interfacial layer of small molecules on the gate oxide surface leads to uniform deposition of TP crystal seeds and facilitates TP to grow along the tilted orientation of substrate, which results in a film of enhanced crystal orientation and areal coverage. OTFTs based on TP/small molecule blends demonstrate greatly improved average hole mobility and performance consistency, which correlates with the length of hydrophobic tail of the small-molecule additives.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)150-155
Number of pages6
JournalOrganic Electronics
Volume15
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2014

Funding

This work was supported by National Science Foundation ( NSF ECCS-1151140 ). A portion of this research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences and Neutron Scattering Science Division, which are sponsored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by the Division of Scientific User Facilities , Office of Basic Energy Sciences , U.S. Department of Energy . J.K. acknowledges sample preparation for X-ray reflectivity experiment from Dr. Ming Shao.

FundersFunder number
Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences and Neutron Scattering Science Division
Division of Scientific User Facilities
National Science FoundationNSF ECCS-1151140
U.S. Department of Energy
Basic Energy Sciences
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

    Keywords

    • Crystal anisotropy
    • Interfacial layer
    • Organic thin-film transistors
    • TIPS pentacene-small molecule blends
    • Thin film coverage

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