TY - JOUR

T1 - Hysteresis-Free Vacuum-Processed Acrylate–Pentacene Thin-Film Transistors

AU - Abbas, G.

AU - Ding, Z.

AU - Mallik, K.

AU - Assender, H.

AU - Taylor, D.M.

PY - 2013/2/14

Y1 - 2013/2/14

N2 - The electrical characteristics of all-vacuum-processed pentacene thin-film transistors, with stable and reproducible performance, using high-throughput roll-to-roll processing have been demonstrated. The method allows a polymerized tripropyleneglycol diacrylate (TPGDA) insulator layer of thickness up to 1 μm to be obtained in a single pass by ultrahigh flash evaporation of a monomer onto a web travelling at 10 m·min-1and subsequent irradiation with an argon plasma emitted from a dc-sputtering cathode. The resulting organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) exhibited field-effect mobility of 0.12 cm2 V-1·s-1, a threshold voltage of -21 V, a turn-on voltage of -2 V, and an on/off current ratio of 1 × 105. The effect of ambient air moisture on the device characteristics was investigated, showing that moisture has a reversible effect on the performance of the OTFTs exhibiting a shift in the turn-on voltage and deterioration in the on-off ratio. However, the effect was eliminated using a simple conventional encapsulation method. Our vacuum-based process thus demonstrates excellent potential for providing an alternative route to low-cost large-area organic electronics manufacturing.

AB - The electrical characteristics of all-vacuum-processed pentacene thin-film transistors, with stable and reproducible performance, using high-throughput roll-to-roll processing have been demonstrated. The method allows a polymerized tripropyleneglycol diacrylate (TPGDA) insulator layer of thickness up to 1 μm to be obtained in a single pass by ultrahigh flash evaporation of a monomer onto a web travelling at 10 m·min-1and subsequent irradiation with an argon plasma emitted from a dc-sputtering cathode. The resulting organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) exhibited field-effect mobility of 0.12 cm2 V-1·s-1, a threshold voltage of -21 V, a turn-on voltage of -2 V, and an on/off current ratio of 1 × 105. The effect of ambient air moisture on the device characteristics was investigated, showing that moisture has a reversible effect on the performance of the OTFTs exhibiting a shift in the turn-on voltage and deterioration in the on-off ratio. However, the effect was eliminated using a simple conventional encapsulation method. Our vacuum-based process thus demonstrates excellent potential for providing an alternative route to low-cost large-area organic electronics manufacturing.

U2 - 10.1109/LED.2012.2234434

DO - 10.1109/LED.2012.2234434

M3 - Article

VL - 34

SP - 268

EP - 270

JO - IEEE Electron Device Letters

JF - IEEE Electron Device Letters

SN - 0741-3106

IS - 2

ER -