Electron injection enhancement by a Cs-salt interlayer in ambipolar organic field-effect transistors and complementary circuits

Here we report the effects of a Cs-salt based charge injection interlayer on the characteristics of top-gate/bottom-contact (TG/BC) ambipolar polymer OFETs with poly(thienylenevinylene-co-phthalimide)s functionalized at the imide nitrogen with dodecyl (PTVPhI-C12). P-channel dominant PTVPhI-C12 ambipolar OFETs showed both an improved electron injection and blocked hole injection properties by insertion of a thermally deposited thin CsF interlayer between Au source/drain electrodes and the organic semiconductor. X-ray and UV photoelectron spectroscopy results exhibited that the work-function of the Au electrode progressively changed from −4.5 eV to −3.9 eV and the Fermi levels of PTVPhI-C12 concomitantly moved towards the LUMO level of the conjugated polymer with an increase of CsF thickness from 0 nm to 1.5 nm, respectively. Both the shifting of Au work-function and the molecular doping of PTVPhI-C12 by insertion of CsF provide an order of magnitude improved n-channel properties in p-channel dominant ambipolar PTVPhI-C12 OFETs. In the end, the characteristics of the PTVPhI-C12 complementary inverter were improved (gain > 23) by a selective deposition and optimization of the CsF interlayer thickness on the n-channel region of ambipolar CMOS inverters.