title: Trap Healing for High-Performance Low-Voltage Polymer Transistors and Solution-Based Analog Amplifiers on Foil.
abstract: Solution-processed semiconductors such as conjugated polymers have great potential in large-area electronics. While extremely appealing due to their low-temperature and high-throughput deposition methods, their integration in high-performance circuits has been difficult. An important remaining challenge is the achievement of low-voltage circuit operation. The present study focuses on state-of-the-art polymer thin-film transistors based on poly(indacenodithiophene-benzothiadiazole) and shows that the general paradigm for low-voltage operation via an enhanced gate-to-channel capacitive coupling is unable to deliver high-performance device behavior. The order-of-magnitude longitudinal-field reduction demanded by low-voltage operation plays a fundamental role, enabling bulk trapping and leading to compromised contact properties. A trap-reduction technique based on small molecule additives, however, is capable of overcoming this effect, allowing low-voltage high-mobility operation. This approach is readily applicable to low-voltage circuit integration, as this work exemplifies by demonstrating high-performance analog differential amplifiers operating at a battery-compatible power supply voltage of 5 V with power dissipation of 11 µW, and attaining a voltage gain above 60 dB at a power supply voltage below 8 V. These findings constitute an important milestone in realizing low-voltage polymer transistors for solution-based analog electronics that meets performance and power-dissipation requirements for a range of battery-powered smart-sensing applications.
authors.affiliation: Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, J J Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK.|Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, Soochow University, 199 Ren'ai Road, Suzhou, 215123, Jiangsu, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pecunia
authors.affiliation: Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, J J Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nikolka
authors.affiliation: Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, J J Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK.
authors.forename: Antony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sou
authors.affiliation: Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, J J Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK.
authors.forename: Iyad
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nasrallah
authors.affiliation: Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, J J Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK.
authors.forename: Atefeh Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Amin
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, SW7 2AZ, UK.
authors.forename: Iain
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: McCulloch
authors.affiliation: Optoelectronics Group, Cavendish Laboratory, J J Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK.
authors.forename: Henning
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sirringhaus
keywords: charge trapping; low-voltage amplifiers; low-voltage polymer transistors; solution-based integration