Functional Organic Field‐Effect Transistors

Functional organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs) have attracted increasing attention in the past few years due to their wide variety of potential applications. Research on functional OFETs underpins future advances in organic electronics. In this review, different types of functional OFETs including organic phototransistors, organic memory FETs, organic light emitting FETs, sensors based on OFETs and other functional OFETs are introduced. In order to provide a comprehensive overview of this field, the history, current status of research, main challenges and prospects for functional OFETs are all discussed     

Deformable Organic Nanowire Field‐Effect Transistors

Deformable electronic devices that are impervious to mechanical influence when mounted on surfaces of dynamically changing soft matters have great potential for next‐generation implantable bioelectronic devices. Here, deformable field‐effect transistors (FETs) composed of single organic nanowires (NWs) as the semiconductor are presented. The NWs are composed of fused thiophene diketopyrrolopyrrole based polymer semiconductor and high‐molecular‐weight polyethylene oxide as both the molecular binder and deformability enhancer. The obtained transistors show high field‐effect mobility >8 cm² V^?1 s^?1 with poly(vinylidenefluoride‐ co ‐trifluoroethylene) polymer dielectric and can easily be deformed by applied strains (both 100% tensile and compressive strains). The electrical reliability and mechanical durability of the NWs can be significantly enhanced by forming serpentine‐like structures of the NWs. Remarkably, the fully deformable NW FETs withstand 3D volume changes (>1700% and reverting back to original state) of a rubber balloon with constant current output, on the surface of which it is attached. The deformable transistors can robustly operate without noticeable degradation on a mechanically dynamic soft matter surface, e.g., a pulsating balloon (pulse rate: 40 min^?1 (0.67 Hz) and 40% volume expansion) that mimics a beating heart, which underscores its potential for future biomedical applications.     

Device Physics of Solution‐Processed Organic Field‐Effect Transistors

Field‐effect transistors based on solution‐processible organic semiconductors have experienced impressive improvements in both performance and reliability in recent years, and printing‐based manufacturing processes for integrated transistor circuits are being developed to realize low‐cost, large‐area electronic products on flexible substrates. This article reviews the materials, charge‐transport, and device physics of solution‐processed organic field‐effect transistors, focusing in particular on the physics of the active semiconductor/dielectric interface. Issues such as the relationship between microstructure and charge transport, the critical role of the gate dielectric, the influence of polaronic relaxation and disorder effects on charge transport, charge‐injection mechanisms, and the current understanding of mechanisms for charge trapping are reviewed. Many interesting questions on how the molecular and electronic structures and the presence of defects at organic/organic heterointerfaces influence the device performance and stability remain to be explored.     

Organic FETs: Functional Organic Field‐Effect Transistors (Adv. Mater. 40/2010)

Functional organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs) have attracted increasing attention in the past few years due to their wide variety of potential applications. Research on functional OFETs underpins future advances in organic electronics. In this review, different types of functional OFETs including organic phototransistors, organic memory FETs, organic light emitting FETs, sensors based on OFETs and other functional OFETs are introduced. In order to provide a comprehensive overview of this field, the history, current status of research, main challenges and prospects for functional OFETs are all discussed     

Charge‐Trapping‐Induced Non‐Ideal Behaviors in Organic Field‐Effect Transistors

Organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs) with impressively high hole mobilities over 10 cm² V^?1 s^?1 and electron mobilities over 1 cm² V^?1 s^?1 have been reported in the past few years. However, significant non‐ideal electrical characteristics, e.g., voltage‐dependent mobilities, have been widely observed in both small‐molecule and polymer systems. This issue makes the accurate evaluation of the electrical performance impossible and also limits the practical applications of OFETs. Here, a semiconductor‐unrelated, charge‐trapping‐induced non‐ideality in OFETs is reported, and a revised model for the non‐ideal transfer characteristics is provided. The trapping process can be directly observed using scanning Kelvin probe microscopy. It is found that such trapping‐induced non‐ideality exists in OFETs with different types of charge carriers (p‐type or n‐type), different types of dielectric materials (inorganic and organic) that contain different functional groups (? OH, ? NH₂, ? COOH, etc.). As fas as it is known, this is the first report for the non‐ideal transport behaviors in OFETs caused by semiconductor‐independent charge trapping. This work reveals the significant role of dielectric charge trapping in the non‐ideal transistor characteristics and also provides guidelines for device engineering toward ideal OFETs.     

Intramolecular Locked Dithioalkylbithiophene‐Based Semiconductors for High‐Performance Organic Field‐Effect Transistors

New 3,3′‐dithioalkyl‐2,2′‐bithiophene ( SBT )‐based small molecular and polymeric semiconductors are synthesized by end‐capping or copolymerization with dithienothiophen‐2‐yl units. Single‐crystal, molecular orbital computations, and optical/electrochemical data indicate that the SBT core is completely planar, likely via S(alkyl)?S(thiophene) intramolecular locks. Therefore, compared to semiconductors based on the conventional 3,3′‐dialkyl‐2,2′‐bithiophene, the resulting SBT systems are planar (torsional angle <1°) and highly π‐conjugated. Charge transport is investigated for solution‐sheared films in field‐effect transistors demonstrating that SBT can enable good semiconducting materials with hole mobilities ranging from ≈0.03 to 1.7 cm² V^?1 s^?1. Transport difference within this family is rationalized by film morphology, as accessed by grazing incidence X‐ray diffraction experiments.