High performance of rubrene thin film transistor by weak epitaxy growth method

•Large-area and high quality rubrene thin film was obtained by employing the WEG method with a new inducing layer material 1,3-di(terphenyl) benzene (m-7P).•This crystalline heteroepitaxy film showed single orientation relationship with inducing layer.•The carrier mobility has achieved over 10 cm2 V−1 s−1 based on this high quality rubrene film.

Rubrene single-crystal transistors have achieved one of the highest carrier mobilities in organic semiconductors. However its thin film transistor usually shows inferior performance due to the poor film quality. Therefore how to obtain large-area and high quality rubrene thin film has become a prominent challenge. This work utilized weak epitaxy growth method with new inducing layer 1,3-di(terphenyl) benzene (m-7P), and lager-area highly ordered terrace rubrene film was obtained. Based on this high quality film, the hole mobility of rubrene polycrystalline thin film transistor has been enhanced to 11.6 cm2 V−1 s−1 with VOPc as buffer layer between semiconductor layer and electrodes. This high device performance was attributed to the flat inducing layer and the single orientation of rubrene domains on m-7P layer, which may reduce grain boundaries and improve the film quality. This easy process to prepare large-area high performance rubrene device supplies a good opportunity for large-area electronic device manufacture.

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