Bottom-contact organic field-effect transistors based on single-crystalline domains of 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene prepared by electrostatic spray deposition

•Large crystalline domains of TIPS pentacene were prepared by ESD.•We fabricated BC-OFETs based on single-crystalline domains of TIPS pentacene.•The devices exhibited high mobilities, but resulted in high threshold voltages.•The threshold voltage could be lowered by reducing the thickness of BC electrodes.

Large crystalline domains (a few hundred micrometers in size) of 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS pentacene) were prepared by electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) and used as the active layers of bottom-contact organic field-effect transistors. The TIPS pentacene active layers were directly patterned via a shadow mask in the ESD process. The device, which had a 5-μm-long channel composed of a single-crystalline domain, exhibited a high field-effect mobility of more than 0.1 cm2/V s but resulted in a high threshold voltage of −17 V. The threshold voltage could be lowered to −6.4 V by reducing the thickness of the BC electrodes from 30 to 10 nm; this threshold voltage lowering was probably due to an improvement in the charge injection from the source electrode to the active layer.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide