Improve on/off ratio of organic heterojunction transistors by adopting single-sandwich configuration

Organic heterojunction transistors (OHJTs) based on 5,5′″-bis(naphtha-2-yl)-2,2′:5″,2′″-quaterthiophene (NaT4)/copper–hexadecafluoro–phthalocyanine (F16CuPc) heterojunction were fabricated in single-sandwich and sandwich configurations, respectively. All the devices operated in depletion–accumulation (normally-on) mode. High field-effect mobility of 0.35 cm2/Vs was obtained for all devices, which was higher than that, 0.20 cm2/Vs of the devices with NaT4 as active layer. The on/off ratio of 1 × 105 was obtained for OHJTs with single-sandwich configuration, which is three orders of magnitude higher than that of OHJTs with sandwich configuration. Compared with OHJTs with sandwich configuration, the higher on/off ratio was mainly determined by the lower off state current in OHJTs with single-sandwich configuration. In OHJTs with single-sandwich configuration, the well-type shield effect of the source and drain electrodes caused a very narrow empty region in F16CuPc film, which is responsible for the lower off state current.

Research highlights
► NaT4/F16CuPc OHJTs with single-sandwich configuration were fabricated.
► The well-type shield effect of the electrodes was utilized in the process.
► The devices present high on/off ratio of 1 × 105.