There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

The optoelectronic properties of polymeric semiconductor materials can be utilized for the fabrication of organic electronic and photonic devices. When key structural requirements are met, these materials exhibit unique properties such as solution processability, large charge transporting capabilities, and/or broad optical absorption. In this review recent developments in the area of π-conjugated polymeric semiconductors for organic thin-film (or field-effect) transistors (OTFTs or OFETs) and bulk-heterojunction photovoltaic (or solar) cell (BHJ-OPV or OSC) applications are summarized and analyzed.

π-Conjugated Polymers for Organic Electronics and Photovoltaic Cell Applications†

Electron and ambipolar transport in organic field-effect transistors.

Organic semiconducting oligomers for use in thin film transistors.

We review the application of impedance spectroscopy in dye-sensitized solar cells, quantum dot-sensitized solar cells and organic bulk heterojunction solar cells. We emphasize the interpretation of the impedance parameters for determining the internal features of the device, concerning the carrier distribution, materials properties such as the density of states and/or doping of the semiconductors, and the match of energy levels for photoinduced charge generation and separation. Another central task is the determination of recombination mechanisms from the measured resistances, and the factors governing the device performance by combined analysis of resistances as a function of voltage and current–voltage curves.

Characterization of nanostructured hybrid and organic solar cells by impedance spectroscopy

We investigated a field-effect transistor (FET) based on a poly(3-n-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) to determine the influence of moisture on device characteristics and thus gain a deep understanding of the mechanism underlying the susceptibility to air of the operation of FETs of this kind. The fundamental output characteristics, which include effective field-effect modulation and saturation behavior in the output current, remained almost the same for every current–voltage profile in a vacuum, N2 and O2. By contrast, operation in N2 humidified with water resulted in enlarged off-state conduction and deterioration in the saturation behavior, in the same manner as that experienced with exposure to room air. We concluded that atmospheric water had a greater effect on the susceptibility of the device operation to air than O2, whose p-type doping activity as regards P3HT caused only a small increase in the conductivity of the active layer and a slight decrease in the field-effect mobility with exposure at ambient pres...

Influence of moisture on device characteristics of polythiophene-based field-effect transistors

It has been indicated that the pentacene crystal growth near the channel region is the most essential factor for determining pentacene FET properties and strongly depends on the surface energy of the substrate. In this study, surface modification effect of the SiO 2 /Si substrate by several kinds of polymers was investigated for the purpose of controlling surface potential and improve the FET properties. Matching the surface energy between the insulator and semiconductor layers using a polymer surface modifier gave improvement of the pentacene crystal growth and its FET properties. It was revealed that the molecular diffusion on a solid substrate and crystal growth mechanism were essential to give the effects.

Surface Potential Control of an Insulator Layer for the High Performance Organic FET

The relationship between the threshold voltage (Vt) stability and the chemical species of the insulator surface was investigated by using organic field-effect transistors with different types of self-assembled monolayers on a SiO2 insulator. The Vt shift induced by gate bias stressing was considerably increased by the introduction of long-chain chemical species to the SiO2 surface. In order to obtain high-performance and high-stability organic transistors, insulator surfaces with short-chain chemical species that can improve transistor performance without degrading stability are required.

Threshold voltage stability of organic field-effect transistors for various chemical species in the insulator surface

Investigation for surface modification of polymer as an insulator layer of organic FET

A photoresponsive organic light-emitting device combining blue-emitting organic electroluminescent (EL) diode with titanyl phthalocyanine as a near-infrared (IR) sensitive layer was fabricated. By irradiating near-IR light to the device, blue emission occurred in the lower drive voltage (between 5 and 12 V). The result indicates that the device acts as a light switch and/or an up-converter from near-IR light (1.6 eV) to blue (2.6 eV). The EL response times of rise and decay using a near-IR light trigger were 260 and 330 μs, respectively. At a higher voltage (above 12 V), enhancement of blue emission was observed with near-IR light irradiation. The ON/OFF ratio reached a maximum of 103.

Manabu Yoshida

Papers

Influence of moisture on device characteristics of polythiophene-based field-effect transistors

Surface Potential Control of an Insulator Layer for the High Performance Organic FET

Threshold voltage stability of organic field-effect transistors for various chemical species in the insulator surface

Investigation for surface modification of polymer as an insulator layer of organic FET

Light up-conversion from near-infrared to blue using a photoresponsive organic light-emitting device