Autophobic Dewetting of a Poly(methyl methacrylate) Thin Film on a Silicon Wafer Treated in Good Solvent Vapor

The wettability of thin poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films on a silicon wafer with a native oxide layer exposed to solvent vapors is dependent on the solvent properties. In the nonsolvent vapor, the film spread on the substrate with some protrusions generated on the film surface. In the good solvent vapor, dewetting happened. A new interface formed between the anchored PMMA chains and the swollen upper part of the film. Entropy effects caused the upper movable chains to dewet on the anchored chains. The rim instability depended on the surface tension of solvent (i.e., the finger was generated in acetone vapor (gamma(acetone) = 24 mN/m), not in dioxane vapor (gamma(dioxane) = 33 mN/m)). The spacing (lambda) that grew as an exponential function of film thickness h scaled as similar to h(1.31) whereas the mean size (D) of the resulting droplets grew linearly with h.

Organic Thin-Film Transistor Memory With Nanoparticle Floating Gate

Organic thin-film transistor memory devices were realized by inserting a layer of nanoparticles (such as Ag or CaF2) between two Nylon 6 gate dielectrics as the floating gate. The transistor memories were fabricated on glass substrates by full thermal deposition. The transistors exhibit significant hysteresis behavior in current-voltage characteristics, due to the separated Ag or CaF2 nanoparticle islands that act as charge trap centers. The mechanism of the transistor memory operation was discussed.

Solvent-induced Morphology of the Binary Mixture of Diblock Copolymer in Thin Film: The Block Length and Composition Dependence of Morphology

A series of binary SB blend samples with various overall volume fraction of PS (Phi(PS)) and different discrete distribution of the block length (denoted as d(PS) or d(PB)) were prepared by mixing various asymmetric poly(styrene)-block-poly(butadiene) (SB) block copolymers with a symmetric SB block copolymer. The influences of the external solvent field, composition, and the block length distribution on the morphologies of the blends in the thin films were investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The experimental results revealed that after solvent annealing, the interface of the blend thin films depended mainly on the cooperative effects of the annealing solvent and the inherently interfacial curvature of the blends. Upon exposure to the saturated vapor of cyclohexane, which has preferential affinity for the PB block, a "threshold" of Phi(PS) (approximate 0.635-0.707) was found. Below such threshold, the influence of the annealing solvent played an important role on the interfacial curvature of the blend thin film.

Bilayer Photoresist Insulator for High Performance Organic Thin-Film Transistors on Plastic Films

A novel bilayer photoresist insulator is applied in flexible vanadyl-phthalocyanine (VOPc) organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs). The micron-size patterns of this photoresisit insulator can be directly defined only by photolithography without the etching process. Furthermore, these OTFTs exhibit high field-effect mobility (about 0.8 cm(2)/Vs) and current on/off ratio (about 10(6)). In particular, they show rather low hysteresis (< 1 V). The results demonstrate that this bilayer photoresist insulator can be applied in large-area electronics and in the facilitation of patterning insulators.

Electrical characterization of copper phthalocyanine thin-film transistors with fluoride gate insulator

Different fluoride materials are used as gate dielectrics to fabricate copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) thin film. transistors (OTFTs). The fabricated devices exhibit good electrical characteristics and the mobility is found to be dependent on the gate voltage from 10(-3) to 10(-1) cm(2) V(-1)s(-1). The observed noticeable electron injection at the drain electrode is of great significance in achieving ambipolar OTFTs. The same method for formation of organic semiconductors and gate dielectric films greatly simplifies the fabrication process. This provides a convenient way to produce high-performance OTFTs on a large scale and should be useful for integration in organic displays.

Thickness dependence of mobility in CuPc thin film on amorphous SiO2 substrate

Hole mobility in a copper-phthalocyanine (CuPc)-based top-contact transistor has been studied with various organic layer thicknesses. It is found that the transistor performance depends on the thickness of the CuPc layer, and the mobility increases with the increase in the CuPc layer and saturated at the thickness of 6 ML. The upper layers do not actively contribute to the carrier transport in the organic films. The morphology of the organic layer grown on the bare SiO2/Si substrate is also presented. The analysis of spatial correlations shows that the CuPc films grow on the SiO2 according to the mixed-layer mode.

High-mobility pentacene thin-film transistors with copolymer-gate dielectric

Pentacene thin-film transistors have been obtained using polymethyl-methacrylate-co-glyciclyl-methacrylate (PNIMA-GMA) as the gate dielectric. The optimum active layer thickness in thin-film transistors (OTFTs) was investigated. The present devices show a wide operation voltage range. The on/off current ratio is as high as 10(5). In linear region (V-DS = -2V), the field-effect mobility of device increases with the increase in gate field at low-voltage region (V-G < - 20 V), and a mobility of 0.33 cm(2)/Vs can be obtained when V-G > 20 V. In saturation region, the mobility increases linearly with the gate field, and a high mobility of 1.14 cm(2)/Vs can be obtained at V-G = -95V. The influence of voltage on mobility of device was investigated.

Electrical characteristics of copper phthalocyanine thin-film transistors with polyamide-6/polytetrafluoroethylene gate insulator

Polyamide- 6(PA 6)/polytetrafluoroethylene is studied as a potential gate dielectric for flexible organic thin film transistors. The same method used for the formation of organic semiconductor and gate dielectric films greatly simplifies the fabrication process of devices. The fabricated transistors show good electrical characteristics. Ambipolar behaviour is observed even when the device is operated in air.

Preparation of hybrid thin film modified carbon nanotubes on glassy carbon electrode and its electrocatalysis for oxygen reduction

A hybrid thin film containing Pt nanoparticles and [tetrakis(N-methylpyridyl)porphyrinato] cobalt (CoTMPyP) modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) on a glassy carbon (GC) electrode surface was fabricated. This hybrid film electrode exhibited remarkable electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction and high stability with promising applications in fuel cells.

Ordered pattern formation from dewetting of polymer thin film with surface disturbance by capillary force lithography

The dewetting process of thin polystyrene (PS) film with built-in ordered disturbance by capillary force lithography (CFL) has. been investigated in situ by AFM. Two different phenomena are observed depending on the excess surface energy (DeltaF(gamma)) of the system. When DeltaF(gamma) is less than a certain critical value (i.e., the disturbance amplitude is under a critical value), the PS film would be flattened and become stable finally by heating above T-g. While, if the size of the disturbance amplitude is larger than the critical value, ordered PS liquid droplets form by further dewetting. The pattern formation mechanisms and influencing factors have been discussed in detail.

Fabrication and luminescent properties of rare earths-doped Gd-2(WO4)(3) thin film phosphors by Pechini sol-gel process

Rare earth ions (Eu3+ and Dy3+)-doped Gd-2(WO4)(3) phosphor films were prepared by a Pechini sol-gel process. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra as well as lifetimes were used to characterize the resulting powders and films. The results of XRD indicate that the films begin to crystallize at 600degreesC and the crystallinity increases with the elevation of annealing temperatures. The film is uniform and crack-free, WO(4)(2-)mainly consists of closely packed fine particles with an average grain size of 80 nm. Owing to an energy transfer from 4 groups, the rare earth ions show their characteristic emissions in crystalline Gd-2(WO4)(3) phosphor films, i.e., D-5(J) -F-7(J), (J = 0, 1, 2, 3; J' = 0 1, 2, 3, 4, not in all cases) transitions for Eu3+ and F-4(9/2)-H-6(J) (J = 13/2, 15/2) transitions for D Y3+, with the hypersensitive transitions D-5(0)-F-7(2) (Eu3+) and F-4(9/2) - H-6(13/2) (Dy3+) being the most prominent groups, respectively.

Organic thin-film transistors having inorganic/organic double gate insulators

Bottom-contact organic thin-film transistors (BC OTFTs) based on inorganic/organic double gate insulators were demonstrated. The double gate insulators consisted of tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5) with high dielectric constant (kappa) as the first gate insulator and octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) with low kappa as the second gate insulator. The devices have carrier mobilities larger than 10(-2) cm(2)/V s, on/off current ratio greater than 10(5), and the threshold voltage of -14 V, which is threefold larger field-effect mobility and an order of magnitude larger on/off current ratio than the OTFTs with a Ta2O5 gate insulator. The leakage current was decreased from 2.4x10(-6) to 7.4x10(-8) A due to the introduction of the OTS second dielectric layer. The results demonstrated that using inorganic/organic double insulator as the gate dielectric layer is an effective method to fabricate OTFTs with improved electric characteristics.

Organic thin-film transistors in sandwich configuration

Organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) having source/drain electrodes sandwiched between copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) and cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) layers, CuPc/CoPc SC OTFTs, are investigated. Comparing their properties with that of CuPc-based top-contact OTFT, field-effect mobility increases from 0.04 to 0.11 cm(2)/Vs, threshold voltage shifts from -13.8 to -8.9 V, and the current on/off ratio maintains at a level of 10(5). A top-contact OTFT with a layer of CuPc and a layer of CoPc (10%)-CuPc mixture reveals that the combination of CuPc and CoPc enhances charge injection from the source electrode into the active layer and increases the off-state current. The sandwich configuration increases the field-effect mobility, reduce the threshold voltage, and improve the on/off ratio at the same time. Our results indicate that using a double-layer of active organic materials in sandwich configuration is an effective way to improve OTFT performance.