Stable organic field-effect-transistors with high mobilities unaffected by supporting dielectric based on phenylene-bridged thienobenzothiophene
We report on the electrical properties of organic field-effect transistors (OFET) based on a new class of organic semiconductors. The molecules consist of the same thieno[2,3-b][1]benzothiophene building blocks, connected by different π-bridge spacers (ethylene, phenylene, and fluorophenylene). Molecular orbitals and highest occupied molecular orbital/lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energies were calculated and compared with results from cyclic voltammetric and UV-vis absorption measurements. In order to study the influence of the bridge groups on the molecular arrangement and surface interaction, the transistor performance on a wide range of dielectrics has been investigated in detail. These include as grown SiO{sub 2} and Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} and also treated with octadecyltrichrolosilane and octadecylphosphonic acid, as well as Cytop and Parylene C. An extended study of the multitude of combinations of these materials revealed mobilities up to ∼1 cm{sup 2}/Vs, measured for devices made of the phenylene-bridged compound. Surprisingly, the mobility was quite independent of the supporting gate dielectric. Stability over time has been observed with no degradation after 5 months. By eliminating the hysteresis using Cytop, we were able to show that some of the molecules form films without long-term charge carrier trapping. These are interesting features for practical industrial processing of organic electronics.