Ambipolar thin-film transistors and an inverter based on pentacene/self-assembled monolayer modified ZnO hybrid structures for balanced hole and electron mobilities

► The insertion of a dodecanoic acid (DA) self-assembled monolayer (SAM) into the interface between pentacene and ZnO results in an improvement in the morphology and the hole mobility of the pentacene layer. ► The improvement in hole mobility leads to better balance between the hole and electron mobilities with a hole and electron mobility ratio of about 0.90. ► The optimized interface between the pentacene and ZnO active layers that is obtained through treatment with a DA SAM produces well-balanced ambipolarity and thus enables the realization of a high performance complementary-like inverter.