Abstract

A critical requirement for the application of organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) in mobile or wearable applications is low-voltage operation, which can be achieved by employing ultrathin, high-capacitance gate dielectrics. One option is a hybrid dielectric composed of a thin film of aluminum oxide and a molecular self-assembled monolayer in which the aluminum oxide is formed by exposure of the surface of the aluminum gate electrode to a radio-frequency-generated oxygen plasma. This work investigates how the properties of such dielectrics are affected by the plasma power and the duration of the plasma exposure. For various combinations of plasma power and duration, the thickness and the capacitance of the dielectrics, the leakage-current density through the dielectrics, and the current–voltage characteristics of organic TFTs in which these dielectrics serve as the gate insulator have been evaluated. The influence of the plasma parameters on the surface properties of the dielectrics, the thin-film morphology of the vacuum-deposited organic-semiconductor films, and the resulting TFT characteristics has also been investigated.

Details

Title
Optimizing the plasma oxidation of aluminum gate electrodes for ultrathin gate oxides in organic transistors
Author
Geiger, Michael 1 ; Hagel, Marion 1 ; Reindl, Thomas 1 ; Weis Jürgen 1 ; Thomas, Weitz R 2 ; Solodenko Helena 3 ; Schmitz, Guido 3 ; Zschieschang Ute 1 ; Klauk Hagen 1 ; Acharya Rachana 4 

 Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany (GRID:grid.419552.e) (ISNI:0000 0001 1015 6736) 
 University of Göttingen, The 1st Physical Institute, Göttingen, Germany (GRID:grid.7450.6) (ISNI:0000 0001 2364 4210); Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Faculty of Physics, München, Germany (GRID:grid.5252.0) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 973X) 
 University of Stuttgart, Institute of Materials Science, Stuttgart, Germany (GRID:grid.5719.a) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9713) 
 Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany (GRID:grid.419552.e) (ISNI:0000 0001 1015 6736); University of Stuttgart, Institute of Materials Science, Stuttgart, Germany (GRID:grid.5719.a) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9713) 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2502555955
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.