Organic semiconductor having polymeric and nonpolymeric constituents
View Patent ↗A composition, comprising organic polymer molecules, and organic nonpolymeric molecules, wherein the composition is a semiconducting solid. The composition includes a distribution of crystal domains of the polymer molecules and inter-domain regions between the crystal domains, a concentration of polymer molecules being higher in the crystal domains than in the inter-domain regions, and a concentration of nonpolymeric molecules being higher in the inter-domain regions than in the crystal domains.
1. A composition, comprising:
organic polymer molecules, and
organic nonpolymeric molecules,
wherein the composition is a semiconducting solid and includes a distribution of crystal domains of the organic polymer molecules and inter-domain regions between the crystal domains that include the nonpolymeric molecules and amorphous portions of some of the organic polymer molecules included in the crystal domains, and at least one of the amorphous portions of the organic polymer molecules included in at least one of the crystal domains entangles with an amorphous portion of another of the organic polymer molecules in one of the inter-domain regions.
2. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the crystal domains are at least about 80% by weight formed of the organic polymer molecules.
3. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the wherein the inter-domain regions are at least about 50% by weight formed of the organic nonpolymeric molecules.
4. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the organic polymer molecules have a molecular weight of at least about 5,000 g/mol.
5. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor layer comprises at least about 20% by weight of the organic nonpolymeric molecules.
6. The composition of claim 1 , wherein a highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy of the organic polymer molecule differs from a HOMO energy of the organic nonpolymer molecule by about 5% or less.
7. A method of fabricating a circuit, comprising:
forming an organic semiconductor channel over a substrate such that the channel comprises a mixture of semiconducting organic polymer molecules and semiconducting organic nonpolymeric molecules; and
fabricating a plurality of electrodes over the substrate,
wherein the electrodes are located to function as a gate electrode, a drain electrode, and a source electrode of an FET, the FET having an active channel formed by the organic semiconductor channel, and
wherein the forming includes producing a semiconducting layer with a distribution of crystal domains of the organic polymer molecules and inter-domain regions between the crystal domains that include the nonpolymeric molecules and amorphous portions of some of the organic polymer molecules included in the crystal domains, and at least one of the amorphous portions of the organic polymer molecules included in at least one of the crystal domains entangles with an amorphous portion of another of the organic polymer molecules in one of the inter-domain regions.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the crystal domains are at least about 80% by weight formed of the organic polymer molecules, and the inter-domain regions are at least about 50% by weight formed of the organic nonpolymeric molecules.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the forming includes producing a semiconducting layer having semiconducting polymeric molecules with molecular weight of more than about 5,000 g/mol.
10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the forming produces a layer comprising the polymer F8T2 and a pentacene derivative.
11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the forming causes the polymer molecules to precipitate from a solvent before the nonpolymeric molecules precipitate from the solvent.
12. An apparatus, comprising
an electronic device having an organic semiconductor channel, and first and second electrodes in contact with the channel,
wherein the channel comprises a mixture of semiconducting organic polymer molecules and semiconducting organic nonpolymeric molecules, and
wherein the channel has a distribution of crystal domains of the organic polymer molecules and inter-domain regions between the crystal domains that include the nonpolymeric molecules and amorphous portions of some of the organic polymer molecules included in the crystal domains, and at least one of the amorphous portions of the organic polymer molecules included in at least one of the crystal domains entangles with an amorphous portion of another of the organic polymer molecules in one of the inter-domain regions.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the device is an FET.
14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the crystal domains are at least about 80% by weight formed of the organic polymer molecules, and the inter-domain regions are at least about 50% by weight formed of the organic non-polymeric molecules.
15. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the polymer molecules have a molecular weight of more than about 5,000 g/mol.
16. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the polymer molecules include F8T2.
17. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the nonpolymeric molecules include a pentacene derivative.
18. The composition of claim 1 , wherein the amorphous portion of another of the organic polymer molecules is a portion of one of the organic polymer molecules included in another of the crystal domains.
19. The method of claim 7 , wherein the amorphous portion of another of the organic polymer molecules is a portion of one of the organic polymer molecules included in another of the crystal domains.
20. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the amorphous portion of another of the organic polymer molecules is a portion of one of the organic polymer molecules included in another of the crystal domains.