New Approaches in Flexible Organic Field-Effect Transistors (FETs) Using InClPc

Abstract

Organic semiconductor materials have been the center of attention because they are scalable, low-cost for device fabrication, and they have good optical properties and mechanical flexibility, which encourages their research. Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) have potential applications, specifically in flexible and low-cost electronics such as portable and wearable technologies. In this work we report the fabrication of an InClPc base flexible bottom-gate/top-contact OFET sandwich, configured by the high-evaporation vacuum technique. The gate substrate consisted of a bilayer poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and indium–tin oxide (ITO) with nylon 11/Al2O3. The device was characterized by different techniques to determine chemical stability, absorbance, transmittance, bandgap, optical properties, and electrical characteristics in order to determine its structure and operational properties. IR spectroscopy verified that the thin films that integrated the device did not suffer degradation during the deposition process, and there were no impurities that affected the charge mobility in the OFET. Also, the InClPc semiconductor IR fingerprint was present on the deposited device. Surface analysis showed evidence of a nonhomogeneous film and also a cluster deposition process of the InClPc. Using the Tauc model, the device calculated indirect bandgap transitions of approximately 1.67 eV. The device’s field effect mobility had a value of 36.2 cm2 V−1 s−1, which was superior to mobility values obtained for commonly manufactured OFETs and increased its potential to be used in flexible organic electronics. Also, a subthreshold swing of 80.64 mV/dec was achieved and was adequate for this kind of organic-based semiconductor device. Therefore, semiconductor functionality is maintained at different gate voltages and is transferred accurately to the film, which makes these flexible OFETs a good candidate for electronic applications.