A soluble and air-stable organic semiconductor with high electron mobility

Abstract

Electronic devices based on organic semiconductors offer an attractive alternative to conventional inorganic devices due to potentially lower costs, simpler packaging and compatibility with flexible substrates. As is the case for silicon-based microelectronics, the use of complementary logic elements-requiring n- and p-type semiconductors whose majority charge carriers are electrons and holes, respectively-is expected to be crucial to achieving low-power, high-speed performance. Similarly, the electron-segregating domains of photovoltaic assemblies require both n- and p-type semiconductors. Stable organic p-type semiconductors are known, but practically useful n-type semiconductor materials have proved difficult to develop, reflecting the unfavourable electrochemical properties of known, electron-demanding polymers. Although high electron mobilities have been obtained for organic materials, these values are usually obtained for single crystals at low temperatures, whereas practically useful field-effect transistors (FETs) will have to be made of polycrystalline films that remain functional at room temperature. A few organic n-type semiconductors that can be used in FETs are known, but these suffer from low electron mobility, poor stability in air and/or demanding processing conditions. Here we report a crystallographically engineered naphthalenetetracarboxylic diimide derivative that allows us to fabricate solution-cast n-channel FETs with promising performance at ambient conditions. By integrating our n-channel FETs with solution-deposited p-channel FETs, we are able to produce a complementary inverter circuit whose active layers are deposited entirely from the liquid phase. We expect that other complementary circuit designs can be realized by this approach as well.

BODIPY derivatives as n-type organic semiconductors: Isomer effect on carrier mobility

“…In the past decades, molecular organic semiconductors is the object of much interest because of their applications in new generations of (opto)electronic devices [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. The development of single-crystal organic field effect transistors (SCOFETs) makes it possible to explore intrinsic properties of these materials [9][10][11].…”

High mobility n-type thin-film transistors based on N,N′-ditridecyl perylene diimide with thermal treatments

“…[6][7][8] However, there have been few reports on high performance n-type organic TFTs. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15] To move ahead with organic electronics, it is more desirable to use complementary metal-oxide semiconductor ͑CMOS͒-like logic circuits that call for both p-and n-type TFTs due to their low power consumptions and simple circuit designs. Thus, improvements of n-type organic TFT performance are prior to this end.…”

Air-stable ambipolar organic transistors

“…Although the stability of the p-channel does not come as a surprise the n-channel stability does as it has been reported only for a handful of organic molecules. 4,13,[24][25][26][27] In an effort to elucidate the origin of the n-channel stability we have studied a series of organic molecules with different electrochemical characteristics ͑Fig. 4͒.…”