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Dresden University Of Technology Develop Printable Organic Transistors
Scientists at the Institute of Applied Physics at TU Dresden have come a step closer to the vision of a broad application of flexible, printable electronics. The team around Dr. Hans Kleemann has succeeded for the first time in developing powerful vertical organic transistors with two independent control electrodes. The results have recently been published in the renowned online journal Nature Communications.
High-performance organic transistors are a key necessity for the mechanically flexible electronic circuits required for some rollable and foldable applications. However, conventional horizontal organic thin-film transistors are very slow due to the hopping-transport in organic semiconductors, so they cannot be used for applications requiring high frequencies. Especially for logic circuits with low power consumption, such as those used for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), it is mandatory to develop transistors enabling high operation frequency as well as adjustable device characteristics (i.e., threshold-voltage). The research group Organic Devices and Systems (ODS) at the Dresden Integrated Center for Applied Photophysics (IAPP) of the Institute of Applied Physics headed by Dr. Hans Kleemann has now succeeded in realizing such novel organic devices.
Figure 1: Vertical Organic Transistors With Two Independent Control Electrodes
Scientists at the Institute of Applied Physics at TU Dresden have come a step closer to the vision of a broad application of flexible, printable electronics. The team around Dr. Hans Kleemann has succeeded for the first time in developing powerful vertical organic transistors with two independent control electrodes. The results have recently been published in the renowned online journal Nature Communications.
High-performance organic transistors are a key necessity for the mechanically flexible electronic circuits required for some rollable and foldable applications. However, conventional horizontal organic thin-film transistors are very slow due to the hopping-transport in organic semiconductors, so they cannot be used for applications requiring high frequencies. Especially for logic circuits with low power consumption, such as those used for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), it is mandatory to develop transistors enabling high operation frequency as well as adjustable device characteristics (i.e., threshold-voltage). The research group Organic Devices and Systems (ODS) at the Dresden Integrated Center for Applied Photophysics (IAPP) of the Institute of Applied Physics headed by Dr. Hans Kleemann has now succeeded in realizing such novel organic devices.
Figure 1: Vertical Organic Transistors With Two Independent Control Electrodes
Vertical organic transistors have been seen as lab curiosities which were thought too difficult to be integrated in an electronic circuit. However, vertical organic transistors with two independent control electrodes are perfectly suited to realize complex logic circuits while keeping the main benefit of vertical transistors devices, namely the high switching frequency," says Dr. Hans Kleemann.
Figure: 2: Upper Panel: Layer Sequence Of A Vertical Organic Permeable Base Transistor With Two Independently Tunable Base Electrodes. Lower Panel, Left: Transfer-Characteristics Of Such A Transistor. Right: Adjustability Of The Turning-On Voltage Using The Second Base Electrode.
Figure: 2: Upper Panel: Layer Sequence Of A Vertical Organic Permeable Base Transistor With Two Independently Tunable Base Electrodes. Lower Panel, Left: Transfer-Characteristics Of Such A Transistor. Right: Adjustability Of The Turning-On Voltage Using The Second Base Electrode.
The vertical organic transistors with two independent control electrodes are characterized by a high switching frequency (a few nanoseconds) and an adjustable threshold voltage. Even single transistors can be used to represent different logical states (AND, NOT, NAND). Furthermore, the adjustable threshold voltage ensures signal integrity (noise margin) and low power consumption. In the future, these transistors could make it possible to realize even sophisticated electronic functions such as wireless communication (RFID) or high-resolution flexible displays completely with organic components, thus completely dispensing with silicon-based electronic components.