Solution-processed n-type fullerene field-effect transistors prepared using CVD-grown graphene electrodes: improving performance with thermal annealing

Abstract

Solution-processed organic field effect transistors (OFETs), which are amenable to facile large-area processing methods, have generated significant interest as key elements for use in all-organic electronic applications aimed at realizing low-cost, lightweight, and flexible devices. The low performance levels of n-type solution-processed bottom-contact OFETs unfortunately continue to pose a barrier to their commercialization. In this study, we introduced a combination of CVD-grown graphene source/drain (S/D) electrodes and fullerene (C₆₀) in a solution-processable n-type semiconductor toward the fabrication of n-type bottom-contact OFETs. The C₆₀ coating in the channel region was achieved by modifying the surface of the oxide gate dielectric layer with a phenyl group-terminated self-assembled monolayer (SAM). The graphene and phenyl group in the SAMs induced π–π interactions with C₆₀, which facilitated the formation of a C₆₀ coating. We also investigated the effects of thermal annealing on the reorganization properties and field-effect performances of the overlaying solution-processed C₆₀ semiconductors. We found that thermal annealing of the C₆₀ layer on the graphene surface improved the crystallinity of the face-centered cubic (fcc) phase structure, which improved the OFET performance and yielded mobilities of 0.055 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹. This approach enables the realization of solution-processed C₆₀-based FETs using CVD-grown graphene S/D electrodes via inexpensive and solution-process techniques.