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High-Resolution Characterization of Pentacene/Polyaniline Interfaces in Thin-Film Transistors†

  1. K. S. Lee1,
  2. T. J. Smith2,
  3. K. C. Dickey1,
  4. J. E. Yoo1,
  5. K. J. Stevenson2,
  6. Y.-L. Loo1

Article first published online: 3 NOV 2006

DOI: 10.1002/adfm.200600170

Issue

Advanced Functional Materials

Advanced Functional Materials

Volume 16, Issue 18, pages 2409–2414, December, 2006

Additional Information

How to Cite

Lee, K. S., Smith, T. J., Dickey, K. C., Yoo, J. E., Stevenson, K. J. and Loo, Y.-L. (2006), High-Resolution Characterization of Pentacene/Polyaniline Interfaces in Thin-Film Transistors. Adv. Funct. Mater., 16: 2409–2414. doi: 10.1002/adfm.200600170

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Chemical Engineering, Center for Nano- and Molecular Science and Technology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA

  2. 2

    Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Center for Nano- and Molecular Science and Technology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA

  1. †

    This work is supported by the NSF (DMR 0314707, CHE-0134884), the Dreyfus Foundation, the Keck Foundation, the Welch Foundation (Grant F-1529), the Beckman Foundation, and Ricoh Innovations. We would also like to thank the Il-Ju Academic Foundation in Korea for an Overseas Graduate Student Fellowship to K. S. L. and Dr. Franklin Kalk at Toppan Photomasks for supplying the photomasks used in this project.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 20 NOV 2006
  2. Article first published online: 3 NOV 2006
  3. Manuscript Revised: 24 APR 2006
  4. Manuscript Received: 21 FEB 2006

Funded by

  • NSF. Grant Numbers: DMR 0314707, CHE-0134884
  • Dreyfus Foundation
  • Keck Foundation
  • Welch Foundation. Grant Number: F-1529
  • Beckman Foundation
  • Ricoh Innovations
  • Il-Ju Academic Foundation in Korea

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Keywords:

  • Conducting polymers;
  • Contact resistance;
  • Pentacenes;
  • Polyaniline;
  • Thin films, organic;
  • Transistors

Abstract

We present the first detailed report that directly correlates the reduced contact resistance in organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) with fundamental structural and morphological characterization at the organic semiconductor/conducting polymer interface. Specifically, the pentacene grains are similar in size and continuous across the channel/electrode interface in bottom-contact TFTs with polyaniline (PANI) electrodes. On a molecular level, the fused rings of pentacene are oriented perpendicular to the surface both in the channel and on PANI. Accordingly, the contact resistance is small in such devices. In TFTs with gold electrodes, however, the pentacene grains are different in size and are discontinuous across the channel/electrode interface. Further, the fused rings of pentacene are oriented perpendicular to the channel surface and parallel to the gold surface. Such differences across the channel/electrode interface lead to structural and electronic disorder, which manifests itself as a significantly larger contact resistance in devices with gold electrodes.

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