High-Performance Organic Vertical Thin Film Transistor Using Graphene as a Tunable Contact

Abstract

Here we present a general strategy for the fabrication of high-performance organic vertical thin film transistors (OVTFTs) based on the heterostructure of graphene and different organic semiconductor thin films. Utilizing the unique tunable work function of graphene, we show that the vertical carrier transport across the graphene-organic semiconductor junction can be effectively modulated to achieve an ON/OFF ratio greater than 10(3). Importantly, with the OVTFT design, the channel length is determined by the organic thin film thickness rather than by lithographic resolution. It can thus readily enable transistors with ultrashort channel lengths (<200 nm) to afford a delivering current greatly exceeding that of conventional planar TFTs, thus enabling a respectable operation frequency (up to 0.4 MHz) while using low-mobility organic semiconductors and low-resolution lithography. With this vertical device architecture, the entire organic channel is sandwiched and naturally protected between the source and drain electrodes, which function as the self-passivation layer to ensure stable operation of both p- and n-type OVTFTs in ambient conditions and enable complementary circuits with voltage gain. The creation of high-performance and highly robust OVTFTs can open up exciting opportunities in large-area organic macroelectronics.

Keywords: OTFT; air-stable; barrier modulation; cutoff frequency; graphene contact; high current density; macroelectronics.