Periodic arrays of organic crystals on polymer gate dielectric for low-voltage field-effect transistors and complementary inverter

Abstract

Periodic arrays of highly oriented 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) crystals, directly grown on a polymeric gate dielectric through a solution process, are used for the fabrication of a low-voltage organic field-effect transistor (OFET). Consequently, an organic complementary inverter using the TCNQ periodic array (n-channel) and pentacene (p-channel) is also reported. The TCNQ-based n-channel OFET exhibited very stable field-effect characteristics with low operational (2 V) and threshold voltages (<0.5 V). The highest field-effect carrier mobility in the saturation region was found to be 0.03 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1). Furthermore, the organic complementary inverter showed good response characteristics in the low-voltage regime. The swing range of V(OUT) is same as V(DD), ensuring "zero&apos;&apos; static power consumption in the digital logic circuit. For the inverter with V(DD) 2 V, the noise margin for low and high voltages are 1.0 V and 0.3 V, respectively. The logic threshold (V(IN) V(OUT)) is 1.3 V and the maximum gain (-dV(OUT)/dV(IN)) of 4 is obtained at V(IN) 1.3 V.