Organic semiconductors for device applications: current trends and future prospects

Abstract

Abstract:With the rich experience of developing silicon devices over a period of the last six decades, it is easy to assess the suitability of a new material for device applications by examining charge carrier injection, transport, and extraction across a practically realizable architecture; surface passivation; and packaging and reliability issues besides the feasibility of preparing mechanically robust wafer/substrate of single-crystal or polycrystalline/ amorphous thin films. For material preparation, parameters such as purification of constituent materials, crystal growth, and thin-film deposition with minimum defects/ disorders are equally important. Further, it is relevant to know whether conventional semiconductor processes, already known, would be useable directly or would require completely new technologies. Having found a likely candidate after such a screening, it would be necessary to identify a specific area of application against an existing list of materials available with special reference to cost reduction considerations in large-scale production. Various families of organic semiconductors are reviewed here, especially with the objective of using them in niche areas of large-area electronic displays, flexible organic electronics, and organic photovoltaic solar cells. While doing so, it appears feasible to improve mobility and stability by adjusting π-conjugation and modifying the energy bandgap. Higher conductivity nanocomposites, formed by blending with chemically conjugated C-allotropes and metal nanoparticles, open exciting methods of designing flexible contact/interconnects for organic and flexible electronics as can be seen from the discussion included here.

Cross-linked PEDOT: PSS as an alternative for low-cost solution-processed electronic devices

“…Soluble electronic materials have been profusely investigated in the past few years and are prone to become the system of choice in the new era of flexible electronics. The combination of easy solution processability with key electronic properties have made them great candidates for large-area and low-cost devices [1][2][3][4][5]. For instance, soluble materials have been successfully employed as active material in light-emitting devices, such as polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) [6] and polymer light-emitting electrochemical cells (PLECs) [7], to mention a few.…”

Influence of C60 co-deposition on the growth kinetics of diindenoperylene–From rapid roughening to layer-by-layer growth in blended organic films

“…Organic electronics benefit from potentially low preparation costs, low-temperature processing, and flexible substrates. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] OSCs can be employed as active layers in organic field effect transistors, organic light emitting diodes, or organic photovoltaics (OPVs). 9 For all of these devices, the crystallinity of the thin films, interface morphology as well as the orientation of the individual molecules is of substantial importance for the performance.…”

Flexible non-volatile optical memory thin-film transistor device with over 256 distinct levels based on an organic bicomponent blend

“…Such materials are undoubtedly an interesting alternative, because their properties can be tuned readily via ad hoc chemical synthesis, and they can be fabricated using mild processing from solution using approaches that can be scaled up and applied to 'soft' substrates, making them ideal candidates for the low-cost fabrication of large-area electronic devices. They have shown exceptional versatility, enabling integration on flexible and/or transparent substrates for a new generation of electronics [4][5][6][7] . Among the plethora of applications of semiconducting organic materials and more generally of π-conjugated (macro)molecules, memories have attracted particular interest because they combine high switching ratios [8][9][10] and long retention times 11 , as well as low operating voltages [12][13][14] and the possibility to be integrated onto flexible substrates [15][16][17][18] .…”