Grain boundaries act as bottlenecks to charge transport in devices comprising polycrystalline organic active layers. To improve device performance, the nature and resulting impact of these boundaries must be better understood. The densities and energy levels of shallow traps within and across triethylsilylethynyl anthradithiophene (TES ADT) spherulites are quantified. The trap density is 7 × 1010 cm−2 in devices whose channels reside within a single spherulite and up to 3 × 1011 cm−2 for devices whose channels span a spherulite boundary. The activation energy for charge transport, EA, increases from 34 meV within a spherulite to 50–66 meV across a boundary, depending on the angle of molecular mismatch. Despite being molecular in nature, these EA’s are more akin to those found for charge transport in polymer semiconductors. Presumably, trapped TES ADT at the boundary can electrically connect neighboring spherulites, similar to polymer chains connecting crystallites in polymer semiconductor thin films.
Building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) have attracted considerable interests because of its aesthetically attractive appearance and overall low cost. In BIPV, system integration on a glass substrate like windows is essential to cover a large area of a building with low cost. However, the conventional high voltage devices in inverters have to be built on the specially selected single crystal substrates, limiting its application for large area electronic systems, such as the BIPV. We demonstrate a Magnesium Zinc Oxide (MZO) based high voltage thin film transistor (HVTFT) built on a transparent glass substrate. The devices are designed with unique ring-type structures and use modulated Mg doping in the channel - gate dielectric interface, resulting in a blocking voltage of over 600 V. In addition to BIPV, the MZO HVTFT based inverter technology also creates new opportunities for emerging self-powered smart glass.
Pyromellitic diimides (PyDIs) are π-conjugated electron-transport materials based on an unusually small aromatic core (benzene), which provides low temperature processing and transparency in much of the visible range. We synthesized PyDI derivatives with a systematic series of fluoroalkyl side chains and investigated their film structures and electrical performances in thin-film transistors. The effect of the length of the fluorinated segment in fluoroalkylmethylene side chains was examined. Shorter side chains within this series induce higher electron mobilities, with a maximum of 0.026 cm 2 /Vs achieved with the perfluorobutylmethyl side chain. Atomic force microscopy images and x-ray diffraction peak widths were used as indications of crystallinity correlate with the mobility trend. The perfluorobutylmethyl side chain, when attached to 3,6-dibromo PyDI using a total of three synthetic steps, allowed nearly parallel PyDI cores and an exceptional mobility of 0.2 cm 2 /Vs, accompanied by a correspondingly excellent morphology and effective intermolecular packing illustrated by a single crystal x-ray structure. This is the highest PyDI mobility yet reported, and is an unusually high mobility for a compound with such a small core, having such low visible range absorbance, and requiring so few synthetic steps.Film structures and mobilities of pyromellitic diimides (PyDIs) were investigated; Perfluorobutylmethyl chain on 3,6-dibromo PyDI showed exceptional packing and mobility.
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