Issue 15, 2019

Improving device performance of n-type organic field-effect transistors via doping with a p-type organic semiconductor

Abstract

Low-power complementary organic circuits need to combine p-channel organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) and n-channel OFETs, which are based on p-type and n-type organic semiconductors, respectively. Unfortunately, the performance of n-type organic semiconductors still lags behind that of p-type organic semiconductors. In this work, the performance of solution-processed n-type OFETs was improved via a facile effective route, by blending a p-type organic semiconductor into the n-type polymer semiconductor. The effect of the p-type organic semiconductor additive on the morphology and charge transport was systematically investigated. It showed that the mobility, on/off ratio and stability of the n-type OFETs were significantly improved with incorporation of the p-type semiconductor. The p-type organic semiconductor functioned as a trap center for minority holes and decreased the trap density of the dielectric surface, resulting in an enhancement of the OFET performance. Moreover, blending with an appropriate amount of p-type organic semiconductor also benefited to reset polymer semiconductors stacking order into the direction that promoted charge transport. However, excess p-type semiconductor addition deteriorated the n-channel characteristics due to the formation of a percolation network, providing a pathway for hole transport. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report about improving the performance of n-type polymer transistors by simply blending with a p-type organic semiconductor.

Graphical abstract: Improving device performance of n-type organic field-effect transistors via doping with a p-type organic semiconductor

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 Nov 2018
Accepted
15 Mar 2019
First published
18 Mar 2019

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2019,7, 4543-4550

Improving device performance of n-type organic field-effect transistors via doping with a p-type organic semiconductor

S. Lan, Y. Yan, H. Yang, G. Zhang, Y. Ye, F. Li, H. Chen and T. Guo, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2019, 7, 4543 DOI: 10.1039/C8TC05740K

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