Site-specific chemical doping reveals electron atmospheres at the surfaces of organic semiconductor crystals.

Chemical doping controls the electronic properties of organic semiconductors, but so far, doping protocols and mechanisms are less developed than in conventional semiconductors. Here we describe a unique, site-specific, n-type surface doping mechanism for single crystals of two benchmark organic semiconductors that produces dramatic improvement in electron transport and provides unprecedented evidence for doping-induced space charge. The surface doping chemistry specifically targets crystallographic step edges, which are known electron traps, simultaneously passivating the traps and releasing itinerant electrons. The effect on electron transport is profound: field-effect electron mobility increases by as much as a factor of ten, and its temperature-dependent behaviour switches from thermally activated to band-like. Our findings suggest new site-specific strategies to dope organic semiconductors that differ from the conventional redox chemistry of randomly distributed substitutional impurities. Critically, they also verify the presence of doping-induced electron atmospheres, confirming long-standing expectations for organic systems from conventional solid-state theory.

Crystal step edges can trap electrons on the surfaces of n-type organic semiconductors.

Understanding relationships between microstructure and electrical transport is an important goal for the materials science of organic semiconductors. Combining high-resolution surface potential mapping by scanning Kelvin probe microscopy (SKPM) with systematic field effect transport measurements, we show that step edges can trap electrons on the surfaces of single crystal organic semiconductors. n-type organic semiconductor crystals exhibiting positive step edge surface potentials display threshold voltages that increase and carrier mobilities that decrease with increasing step density, characteristic of trapping, whereas crystals that do not have positive step edge surface potentials do not have strongly step density dependent transport. A device model and microelectrostatics calculations suggest that trapping can be intrinsic to step edges for crystals of molecules with polar substituents. The results provide a unique example of a specific microstructure-charge trapping relationship and highlight the utility of surface potential imaging in combination with transport measurements as a productive strategy for uncovering microscopic structure-property relationships in organic semiconductors.

Large Magnetoresistance at Room Temperature in Organic Molecular Tunnel Junctions with Nonmagnetic Electrodes.

We report room-temperature resistance changes of up to 30% under weak magnetic fields (0.1 T) for molecular tunnel junctions composed of oligophenylene thiol molecules, 1-2 nm in length, sandwiched between gold contacts. The magnetoresistance (MR) is independent of field orientation and the length of the molecule; it appears to be an interface effect. Theoretical analysis suggests that the source of the MR is a two-carrier (two-hole) interaction at the interface, resulting in spin coupling between the tunneling hole and a localized hole at the Au/molecule contact. Such coupling leads to significantly different singlet and triplet transmission barriers at the interface. Even weak magnetic fields impede spin relaxation processes and thus modify the ratio of holes tunneling via the singlet state versus the triplet state, which leads to the large MR. Overall, the experiments and analysis suggest significant opportunities to explore large MR effects in molecular tunnel junctions based on widely available molecules.

Characterization of the Electric Double Layer Formation Dynamics of a Metal/Ionic Liquid/Metal Structure.

Although ionic liquids (ILs) have been used extensively in recent years as a high-capacitance "dielectric" in electric double layer transistors, the dynamics of the double layer formation have remained relatively unexplored. Better understanding of the dynamics and relaxation processes involved in electric double layer formation will guide device optimization, particularly with regard to switching speed. In this paper, we explore the dynamical characteristics of an IL in a metal/ionic liquid/metal (M/IL/M) capacitor. In particular, we examine a Au/IL/Au structure where the IL is 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium tris(pentafluoroethyl)trifluorophosphate. The experiments consist of frequency-dependent impedance measurements and time-dependent current vs voltage measurements for applied linear voltage ramps and abrupt voltage steps. The parameters of an equivalent circuit model are determined by fits to the impedance vs frequency data and subsequently verified by calculating the current vs voltage characteristics for the applied potential profiles. The data analysis indicates that the dynamics of the structure are characterized by a wide distribution of relaxation times spanning the range of less than microseconds to longer than seconds. Possible causes for these time scales are discussed.

Interface Design Principles for High-Performance Organic Semiconductor Devices.

Precise manipulation of organic donor-acceptor interfaces using spacer layers is demonstrated to suppress interface recombination in an organic photo-voltaic device. These strategies lead to a dramatic improvement in a model bilayer system and bulk-heterojunction system. These interface strategies are applicable to a wide variety of donor-acceptor systems, making them both fundamentally interesting and technologically relevant for achieving high efficiency organic electronic devices.

Charge density dependent two-channel conduction in organic electric double layer transistors (EDLTs).

A transport model based on hole-density-dependent trapping is proposed to explain the two unusual conductivity peaks at surface hole densities above 10(13) cm(-2) in rubrene electric double layer transistors (EDLTs). Hole transport in rubrene is described to occur via multiple percolation pathways, where conduction is dominated by transport in the free-site channel at low hole density, and in the trap-site channel at larger hole density.

Carrier localization on surfaces of organic semiconductors gated with electrolytes.

Organic semiconductor single crystals gated with electrolytes exhibit a pronounced maximum in channel conductance at hole densities >10(13) cm(-2). The cause is a strong decrease in the hole mobility with increasing charge density, which is explained in terms of a percolation model that incorporates trapping of holes by ions at the semiconductor-electrolyte interface. In the case of rubrene crystals, the peak channel conductance occurs at hole densities near 3 × 10(13) cm(-2). The magnitude of the effect will be large for semiconductors with low dielectric constants and narrow bandwidths, and thus is likely to be a general phenomenon in organic semiconductors gated with electrolytes.