Controlling threshold voltage and leakage currents in vertical organic field-effect transistors by inversion mode operation

Abstract

The interest in vertical organic transistors as a means to overcome the limitations of conventional organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) has been growing steadily in recent years. Current vertical architectures, however, often suffer from a lack of parameter control, as they are limited to certain materials and processing techniques, making a controlled shift of, e.g., the transistor threshold voltage difficult. In this contribution, we present a vertical OFET (VOFET) operating in the inversion regime. By varying the thickness or doping concentration of a p-doped layer in an otherwise n-type VOFET, we are able to shift the threshold voltage in a controlled manner from 1.61 V (for a normal n-type VOFET) to 4.83 V (for the highest doping concentration of 50 mol. %). Furthermore, it is found that low doping concentrations of 20 mol. % can improve the Off state of the VOFET through reduction of the source-drain leakage current.