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ABSTRACT: We analyze the effect of surface traps on unipolar space charge limited current and find that they have a profound influence on the I‐V curves. By performing calculations that account for the presence of these traps, we can reproduce experimental observations not captured by the conventional theory that only considers the presence of traps in the bulk of the material. Through the use of realistic material parameters, we show that the effects discussed have clear experimental relevance.
Phys. Rev. B. 08/2005; 72(7).
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ABSTRACT: We report the observation of ambipolar transport in field-effect transistors fabricated on single crystals of copper- and iron-phthalocyanine, using gold as a high work-function metal for the fabrication of source and drain electrodes. In these devices, the room-temperature mobility of holes reaches 0.3 cm <sup>2</sup>/ V s in both materials. The highest mobility for electrons is observed for iron-phthalocyanines and is approximately one order of magnitude lower. Our measurements indicate that these values are limited by extrinsic contact effects due to the transistor fabrication and suggest that considerably higher values for the electron and hole mobility can be achieved in these materials.
Applied Physics Letters 07/2005; · 3.84 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: We analyze the effect of surface traps on unipolar space charge limited current and find that they have a profound influence on the $I-V$ curves. By performing calculations that account for the presence of these traps, we can reproduce experimental observations not captured by the conventional theory that only considers the presence of traps in the bulk of the material. Through the use of realistic material parameters, we show that the effects discussed have clear experimental relevance.
05/2005;
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ABSTRACT: We have performed a comparative study of rubrene single-crystal field-effect transistors fabricated using different materials as gate insulator. For all materials, highly reproducible device characteristics are obtained. The achieved reproducibility permits one to observe that the mobility of the charge carriers systematically decreases with increasing the dielectric constant of the gate insulator, the decrease being proportional to ε<sup>-1</sup> . This finding demonstrates that the mobility of carriers in organic single-crystal field-effect transistors is an intrinsic property of the crystal/dielectric interface and that it does not only depend on the specific molecule used.
Applied Physics Letters 11/2004; · 3.84 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: We investigate the effect of a small leakage current through the gate insulator on the stability of organic single-crystal field-effect transistors (FETs). We find that, irrespective of the specific organic molecule and dielectric used, leakage current flowing through the gate insulator results in an irreversible degradation of the single-crystal FET performance. This degradation occurs even when the leakage current is several orders of magnitude smaller than the source-drain current. The experimental data indicate that a stable operation requires the leakage current to be smaller than $10^{-9} \ \mathrm{A/cm}^2$. Our results also suggest that gate leakage currents may determine the lifetime of thin-film transistors used in applications. Comment: submitted to Appl. Phys. Lett
08/2004;
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ABSTRACT: We have performed a comparative study of rubrene single-crystal field-effect transistors fabricated using different materials as gate insulator. For all materials, highly reproducible device characteristics are obtained. The achieved reproducibility permits to observe that the mobility of the charge carriers systematically decreases with increasing the dielectric constant of the gate insulator, the decrease being proportional to (epsilon)-1. This finding demonstrates that the mobility of carriers in organic single-crystal field-effect transistors is an intrinsic property of the crystal/dielectric interface and that it does not only depend on the specific molecule used. Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures
07/2004;
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ABSTRACT: We present an overview of recent studies of the charge transport in the field effect transistors on the surface of single crystals of organic low-molecular-weight materials. We first discuss in detail the technological progress that has made these investigations possible. Particular attention is devoted to the growth and characterization of single crystals of organic materials and to different techniques that have been developed for device fabrication. We then concentrate on the measurements of the electrical characteristics. In most cases, these characteristics are highly reproducible and demonstrate the quality of the single crystal transistors. Particularly noticeable are the small sub-threshold slope, the non-monotonic temperature dependence of the mobility, and its weak dependence on the gate voltage. In the best rubrene transistors, room-temperature values of $\mu$ as high as 15 cm$^2$/Vs have been observed. This represents an order-of-magnitude increase with respect to the highest mobility previously reported for organic thin film transistors. In addition, the highest-quality single-crystal devices exhibit a significant anisotropy of the conduction properties with respect to the crystallographic direction. These observations indicate that the field effect transistors fabricated on single crystals are suitable for the study of the \textit{intrinsic} electronic properties of organic molecular semiconductors. We conclude by indicating some directions in which near-future work should focus to progress further in this rapidly evolving area of research. Comment: Review article, to appear in special issue of Phys. Stat. Sol. on organic semiconductors
04/2004;
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ABSTRACT: We report on a systematic study of electronic transport in tetracene single crystals by means of space charge limited current spectroscopy and time of flight measurements. Both $I$-$V$ and time of flight measurements show that the room-temperature effective hole-mobility reaches values close to $\mu \simeq 1$ cm$^2$/Vs and show that, within a range of temperatures, the mobility increases with decreasing temperature. The experimental results further allow the characterization of different aspects of the tetracene crystals. In particular, the effects of both deep and shallow traps are clearly visible and can be used to estimate their densities and characteristic energies. The results presented in this paper show that the combination of $I$-$V$ measurements and time of flight spectroscopy is very effective in characterizing several different aspects of electronic transport through organic crystals. Comment: Accepted by J. Appl. Phys.; tentatively scheduled for publication in the January 15, 2004 issue; minor revisions compared to previous cond-mat version
08/2003;
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ABSTRACT: We report on the fabrication and electrical characterization of field-effect transistors at the surface of tetracene single crystals. We find that the mobility of these transistors reaches the room-temperature value of $0.4 \ cm^2/Vs$. The non-monotonous temperature dependence of the mobility, its weak gate voltage dependence, as well as the sharpness of the subthreshold slope confirm the high quality of single-crystal devices. This is due to the fabrication process that does not substantially affect the crystal quality. Comment: Accepted by Appl. Phys. Lett, tentatively scheduled for publication in the November 24, 2003 issue
07/2003;
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ABSTRACT: We report on the fabrication and electrical characterization of field-effect transistors at the surface of tetracene single crystals. We find that the mobility of these transistors reaches the room-temperature value of 0.4 cm2/V s. The nonmonotonous temperature dependence of the mobility, its weak gate voltage dependence, as well as the sharpness of the subthreshold slope, confirm the high quality of single-crystal devices. This is due to the fabrication process that does not substantially affect the crystal quality.
Applied Physics Letters, 83 (21), 2003 ; doi:10.1063/1.1629144.
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Physical Review B, 72 (7).
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R.W.I. De Boer
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ABSTRACT: Organic electronics constitute an innovative field, with interesting applications complementary to the silicon semiconductor technology. From a scientific perspective, there is large interest in the fundamental understanding of electrical transport in organic semiconductors. However, a well-developed microscopic description is still lacking, due to the complicated character of the many-body polaronic-type of charge carriers in molecular compounds. In this Thesis, we have experimentally studied the intrinsic charge transport properties of organic semiconductors by using organic single-crystal field-effect transistors. The electric field-effect has been frequently used to investigate thin films of organic compounds. Unfortunately, thin-film transistors are not suitable for the study of intrinsic electronic properties of organic conductors, because their characteristics are often strongly affected by imperfections of the film structure and by insufficient purity of organic materials. Thus, for a higher degree of molecular ordering and an improved quality of the FET, we fabricate devices on the surface of a free-standing single crystal of organic molecules. In short, in this work we have achieved successful fabrication of high-quality single-crystal FETs, exhibiting high mobilities and signs of intrinsic transport. Herewith, we have identified new aspects that influence charge transport in organic semiconductor FETs, and we have performed exploratory measurements in the charge density regime approaching one carrier per molecule.
