Abstract
Standing at the meeting between solid state physics and optical spectroscopy, microwave characterization methods are efficient methods to probe electronic mechanisms and mesoscopic transport in semiconducting polymers. Scanning microwave microscopy, augmented with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer detection unit to allow for the probing of high impedance structures was applied on poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diy) and exhibited high sensitivity while operating at the nanoscale. Provided a well-defined experiment protocol, S11 phase and amplitude signals are shown to lead simultaneously yet independently to probing the variations of the dielectric properties in the materials, i.e., conductive and capacitive properties, respectively, upon applied DC gate bias. Adjusting the operating microwave frequency can also serve to probe carrier trapping mechanisms.
Subject
Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes,Computer Science Applications,Process Chemistry and Technology,General Engineering,Instrumentation,General Materials Science