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. 2017 Dec 22;11(1):8.
doi: 10.3390/ma11010008.

Organic Thin Film Transistors Incorporating Solution Processable Thieno[3,2-b]thiophene Thienoacenes

Nicole A Rice  1 , François Magnan  2 , Owen A Melville  3 , Jaclyn L Brusso  4 , Benoît H Lessard  5
Affiliations

Organic Thin Film Transistors Incorporating Solution Processable Thieno[3,2-b]thiophene Thienoacenes

Nicole A Rice et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

Bottom-gate bottom-contact organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) were prepared with four novel star-shaped conjugated molecules containing a fused thieno[3,2-b]thiophene moiety incorporated either in the core and/or at the periphery of the molecular framework. The molecules were soluble in CS₂, allowing for solution-processing techniques to be employed. OTFTs with different channel geometries were characterized in both air and vacuum in order to compare environmental effects on performance. Blending the small molecules with poly(styrene), an insulating polymer, facilitated the formation of an even semiconducting film, resulting in an order of magnitude increase in device mobility. The highest field-effect mobilities were in air and on the order of 10-3 cm²/Vs for three of the four molecules, with a maximum mobility of 9.2 × 10-3 cm²/Vs achieved for the most conjugated small molecule. This study explores the relationship between processing conditions and OTFT devices performance for four different molecules within this new family of materials, resulting in a deeper insight into their potential as solution-processable semiconductors.

Keywords: interface engineering; organic thin film transistors; solution processing; thieno[3,2-b]thiophene.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) molecular structure of the 2D thienoacenes investigated, (b) photo of a Fraunhofer chip used and (c) the bottom-gate bottom-contact (BGBC) OTFT architecture of the devices on the chip.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of average mobilities for 1 devices prepared using chlorobenzene, CS2 and a poly(styrene)/CS2 blend. All data is for devices tested in air. Working devices were not obtained for the 2.5 and 20 µm channels for the chlorobenzene sample.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Example (a) output and (b) transfer curves for 4 blended with poly(styrene) Solid lines represent data obtained in vacuum (P < 0.1 Pa), dashed lines represent data obtained in air. Data in (b) is plotted for both the square root (black lines) and log (red lines) of the current.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Comparison of mobility data for devices tested in (a) vacuum and (b) air.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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