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Interface Doping for Ohmic Organic Semiconductor Contacts Using Self‐Aligned Polyelectrolyte Counterion Monolayer
Author(s) -
Seah WeiLing,
Tang Cindy G.,
Png RuiQi,
Keerthi Venu,
Zhao Chao,
Guo Han,
Yang JinGuo,
Zhou Mi,
Ho Peter K. H.,
Chua LayLay
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201606291
Subject(s) - materials science , ohmic contact , monolayer , semiconductor , doping , contact resistance , organic semiconductor , dopant , counterion , nanotechnology , optoelectronics , field effect transistor , transistor , ion , chemistry , electrical engineering , layer (electronics) , organic chemistry , engineering , voltage
Contact resistance limits the performance of organic field‐effect transistors, especially those based on high‐mobility semiconductors. Despite intensive research, the nature of this phenomenon is not well understood and mitigation strategies are largely limited to complex schemes often involving co‐evaporated doped interlayers. Here, this study shows that solution self‐assembly of a polyelectrolyte monolayer on a metal electrode can induce carrier doping at the contact of an organic semiconductor overlayer, which can be augmented by dopant ion‐exchange in the monolayer, to provide ohmic contacts for both p ‐ and n ‐type organic field‐effect transistors. The resultant 2D‐doped profile at the semiconductor interface is furthermore self‐aligned to the contact and stabilized against counterion migration. This study shows that Coulomb potential disordering by the polyelectrolyte shifts the semiconductor density‐of‐states into the gap to promote extrinsic doping and cascade carrier injection. Contact resistivities of the order of 0.1–1 Ω cm 2 or less have been attained. This will likely also provide a platform for ohmic injection into other advanced semiconductors, including 2D and other nanomaterials.