High performance near infrared photosensitive organic field-effect transistors realized by an organic hybrid planar-bulk heterojunction

Compared with organic photodiodes, photoresponsive organic field-effect transistors (photOFETs) exhibit higher sensitivity and lower noise. The performance of photOFETs based on conventional single layer structure operating in the near infrared (NIR) is generally poor due to the low carrier mobility of the active channel materials. We demonstrate a high performance photOFETs operating in NIR region with a structure of hybrid planar-bulk heterojunction (HPBHJ). PhotOFETs with the structures of single layer [lead phthalocyanine (PbPc) or copper phthalocyanine (CuPc)], single planar heterojunction (PHJ) of CuPc/PbPc, double PHJ of CuPc/PbPc/3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) and HPBHJ of CuPc/PbPc:PTCDA were fabricated and characterized. It is concluded that the photOFET with HPBHJ structure showed superior performance compared to that with other structures, and for NIR light of wavelength 808 nm, the photOFET with HPBHJ structure exhibited a large photoresponsivity of 322 mA/W, a high external quantum efficiency of around 50%, and a maximal photosensitivity of 9.4 × 102. The high performance of HPBHJ photOFET is attributed to its high exciton dissociation efficiency and excellent hole transport ability. For 50-nm thick CuPc layer, the optimal thickness of the PbPc:PTCDA layer is found to be around 30 nm.

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► The mobility of infrared (NIR) sensitive organic materials is generally low.
► Performance of conventional NIR sensitive organic field-effect transistors (photOFETs) is poor.
► We fabricated NIR photOFETs based a structure of hybrid planar-bulk heterojunction (HPBHJ).
► We demonstrate that the performance of HPBHJ photOFETs is superior than conventional ones.
► HPBHJ photOFET exhibited a large photoresponsivity of 322 mA/W for 808 nm NIR light.