Effect of doping on the density-of-states distribution and carrier hopping in disordered organic semiconductors

Abstract

The effect of doping on the density-of-states (DOS) distribution and charge-carrier transport in a disordered hopping system is considered analytically. It is shown that doping such a system produces a random distribution of dopant ions, which Coulombically interact with carriers localized in intrinsic hopping sites. This interaction further increases the energy disorder and broadens the deep tail of the DOS distribution. Therefore, doping of a disordered organic semiconductor, on the one hand, increases the concentration of charge carriers and lifts up the Fermi level but, on the other hand, creates additional deep Coulombic traps of the opposite polarity. While the former effect facilitates conductivity, the latter strongly suppresses the carrier hopping rate. A model of hopping in a doped disordered organic semiconductor is suggested. It is shown that the doping efficiency strongly depends upon the energy disorder and external electric field.