Fabrication and characterization of solution-processed methanofullerene-based organic field-effect transistors

Abstract

The fabrication and characterization of high-mobility, $n$ -channel organic field-effect transistors (OFET) based on methanofullerene [6,6]-phenyl ${\mathrm{C}}_{61}$ -butyric acid methyl ester using various organic insulators as gate dielectrics is presented. Gate dielectrics not only influence the morphology of the active semiconductor, but also the distribution of the localized states at the semiconductor-dielectric interface. Spin-coated organic dielectrics with very smooth surfaces provide a well-defined interface for the formation of high quality organic semiconductor films. The charge transport and mobility in these OFET devices strongly depend on the choice of the gate dielectric. The electron mobilities obtained are in the range of $0.05\text{–}0.2{\mathrm{cm}}^2{\mathrm{V}}^{-1}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ . Most of the OFETs fabricated using organic dielectrics exhibit an inherent hysteresis due to charge trapping at the semiconductor-dielectric interface. Devices with a polymeric electret as gate dielectric show a very large and metastable hysteresis in its transfer characteristics. The observed hysteresis is found to be temperature dependent and has been used to develop a bistable memory element.