High-performance, semiconducting membrane composed of ultrathin, single-crystal organic semiconductors

Abstract

Thin film transistors (TFTs) are indispensable building blocks in any electronic device and play vital roles in switching, processing, and transmitting electronic information. TFT fabrication processes inherently require the sequential deposition of metal, semiconductor, and dielectric layers and so on, which makes it difficult to achieve reliable production of highly integrated devices. The integration issues are more apparent in organic TFTs (OTFTs), particularly for solution-processed organic semiconductors due to limits on which underlayers are compatible with the printing technologies. We demonstrate a ground-breaking methodology to integrate an active, semiconducting layer of OTFTs. In this method, a solution-processed, semiconducting membrane composed of few-molecular-layer–thick single-crystal organic semiconductors is exfoliated by water as a self-standing ultrathin membrane on the water surface and then transferred directly to any given underlayer. The ultrathin, semiconducting membrane preserves its original single crystallinity, resulting in excellent electronic properties with a high mobility up to 12cm2⋅V−1⋅s−1. The ability to achieve transfer of wafer-scale single crystals with almost no deterioration of electrical properties means the present method is scalable. The demonstrations in this study show that the present transfer method can revolutionize printed electronics and constitute a key step forward in TFT fabrication processes.

Damage-free Metal Electrode Transfer to Monolayer Organic Single Crystalline Thin Films

“…Fig. 3(a)], which is one of the DNBDT analogs 12,38 , was grown via a continuous edge-casting method 19,[39][40][41] [ Fig. 3(b)].…”

Sub-molecular structural relaxation at a physisorbed interface with monolayer organic single-crystal semiconductors

“…We attempted XRR measurements at multiple spots on the surface of 1L and 2L thin films (two spots for 1L, and four spots for 2L). Although only a single sample each for 1L and 2L thin films was examined, the highly reproducible production of C 8 -DNBDT-NW single-crystalline thin films was verified by single crystal XRD, SAED, and polarized optical microscopy measurements 7,48,49 . All XRR data for each sample were almost identical, and were at least enough for arguing critical differences in electron density in 1L and 2L C 8 -DNBDT-NW thin films.…”

Electron Beam Induced Tailoring of Electrical Characteristics of Organic Semiconductor Films

“…The flexibility makes organic film based electronic devices superior over its inorganic counter parts. For flexible device applications such as power sources [74,75], displays [76], electronics [77], super capacitors [78], gas sensors [79][80][81], thermoelectric power generators [82,83], organic light emitting diodes [84,85], radiation dosimeters [86][87][88] etc., organic semiconductors are promptly used. The nature of interaction between high energy EB and organic materials depends on the energy as well as dose of the incident EB [7].…”