Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 73: [DS] Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics III (jointly with CPP, HL, and O)

O 73.3: Talk

Thursday, March 17, 2011, 14:30–14:45, GER 38

Dynamics of optically induced instabilities in P3HT field-effect transistors — •Lorenz Kehrer, Christian Melzer, and Heinz von Seggern — Electronic Materials Department, Institute of Materials Science, TU Darmstadt, Petersenstr. 23, 64287 Darmstadt

The development of stable printed organic electronic circuits for everyday use remains a great challenge. Under ambient conditions electrical instabilities may be driven by external influences such as gases, humidity or light. Here, we report on a light induced instability of state of the art poly(3-hexylthiophene) field-effect transistors under ambient atmosphere. By illuminating p-type, top-gate poly(3-hexylthiophene) field-effect transistors in depletion mode with visible light a substantial shift of the threshold-voltage and an increase in the off-current by three orders of magnitudes has been observed. Both phenomena, the threshold-voltage shift and the increase of the off-current, require the presence of oxygen and are persistent for days at room temperature. The origin of this long lasting instability is attributed to traps which are induced in the semiconductor by oxygen incorporation and subsequent optical filling of these traps by electrons. This charge trapping shifts the threshold voltage and increases the doping level. The temporal evolution of the optically induced changes in the OFET characteristics under different thermal conditions will be highlighted. Such an instability is crucial for logic elements where OFETs are normally hold in the off-state, thus in depletion. Under these operational conditions light induces the aforementioned change in the OFET characteristics affecting the functionality of the employed logic circuit substantially.