Laser printed organic semiconductor PQT-12 for bottom-gate organic thin-film transistors: Fabrication and characterization

In this work, we report on the effect of laser printed Poly (3,3‴-didodecyl quarter thiophene) on its optical, structural and electrical properties for bottom-gate/bottom-contact organic thin-film transistors applications. This semiconducting π-conjugated polymer was solution-deposited (spin-coated) on a donor substrate and transferred by means of solid phase laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) technique on SiO2/Si receiver substrates to form the active material. This article presents a detailed study of the electrical properties of the fabricated transistors by measuring the parasitic resistances for gold (Au) and platinum (Pt) as source-drain electrodes, for optimizing OTFTs in terms of contacts. In addition, X-ray diffraction patterns revealed that it is possible to control the polymer microstructure through the choice of solvent. Also, no significant change in polymer chain orientation was observed between two printed patterns at 90 and 130 mJ/cm2 as confirmed by Raman spectra. The results demonstrate hole mobility values of (2.6 ± 1.3) × 10−2 cm2/Vs, and lower parasitic resistance for dielectric surface roughness around 1.2 nm and Pt electrodes. Higher performances are correlated to i) the well-ordering of PQT-12 surface when a high-boiling-point solvent is used and ii) the less limitating Pt source/drain electrodes. This analytical study proves that solid phase LIFT printing is a reliable technology for the fabrication of thin, organic large area electronics in a well-defined manner.