Enhancement in electrical properties of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/PTCDA/Ag by using calcium buffer layer

This paper reports on electrical characterization of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/PTCDA/Ca/Ag device based on 3,4,9,10-perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) and calcium (Ca) buffer layer with improved junction properties. The I–V characteristics have been utilized to extract various electrical parameters such as ideality factor (n), barrier height (ϕB) and series resistance Rs, which are found to be 1.9, 0.79 eV and 2.5 kΩ, respectively. The device shows good rectifying behavior, with a rectification ratio of 528, and also field-lowering mechanism with a linear dependence of log I on V1/2. The device reported in the present work shows 50% improvement in the rectification ratio and ideality factor as compared to our previously fabricated device. It appears from the experimental data that the transport mechanism in the PTCDA thin film is dominated by the Poole–Frenkel model of thermionic emission, which may be associated with high density of structural defects or traps present in the film.