Effects of Interfacial Charge Depletion in Organic Thin-Film Transistors with Polymeric Dielectrics on Electrical Stability

• Main Authors: Jaehoon Park, Jin-Hyuk Bae, Won-Ho Kim, Min-Hoi Kim, Chang-Min Keum, Sin-Doo Lee, Jong Sun Choi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2010-06-01
• Series: Materials
• Subjects: organic thin-film transistors; stability; polymer; dielectrics; hydroxyl group
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/3/6/3614/

We investigated the electrical stabilities of two types of pentacene-based organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) with two different polymeric dielectrics: polystyrene (PS) and poly(4-vinyl phenol) (PVP), in terms of the interfacial charge depletion. Under a short-term bias stress condition, the OTFT with the PVP layer showed a substantial increase in the drain current and a positive shift of the threshold voltage, while the PS layer case exhibited no change. Furthermore, a significant increase in the off-state current was observed in the OTFT with the PVP layer which has a hydroxyl group. In the presence of the interfacial hydroxyl group in PVP, the holes are not fully depleted during repetitive operation of the OTFT with the PVP layer and a large positive gate voltage in the off-state regime is needed to effectively refresh the electrical characteristics. It is suggested that the depletion-limited holes at the interface, i.e., interfacial charge depletion, between the PVP layer and the pentacene layer play a critical role on the electrical stability during operation of the OTFT.