Dialkylated dibenzotetrathienoacene derivative as semiconductor for organic field effect transistors

•A novel thienoacene derivative C6-DBTTA is synthesized.•Thermal, optical and electrochemical properties of the C6-DBTTA were studied.•The field effect transistor based on the semiconductor C6-DBTTA was constructed and characterized.•The microstructure of thin films was characterized by XRD.•The morphology of thin films was characterized by AFM.

A novel semiconductor material based on dialkylated thienoacene is designed and synthesized. The dihexyl-substituted dibenzotetrathienoacene derivative C6-DBTTA exhibits high stability which is evidenced by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), UV–vis spectroscopy and electrochemistry. X-ray diffraction measurements of the vacuum-evaporated thin films show strong diffraction and indicate that the molecules are stacked nearly perpendicular to the substrate. AFM images reveal that the morphology of thin films depended on the deposition temperature. Thin film FETs devices based on C6-DBTTA were constructed and showed high mobility up to 0.48 cm2 V−1 s−1 and an on/off ratio over 107. These results suggest that this new dihexylated thienoacene is an important organic semiconductor for field effect transistors.

Graphical abstractA novel six fused rings thienoacene (C6-DBTTA) semiconductor material was synthesized. This new dihexyl-substituted thienoacene derivative exhibits high thermal and oxidation stability and its thin film FET devices exhibit a high mobility up to 0.48 cm2 V−1 s−1 as well as an on/off ratio over 107.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide