Benzothiadiazole-Based Small-Molecule Semiconductors for Organic Thin-Film Transistors and Complementary-like Inverters

Chempluschem. 2017 May;82(5):742-749. doi: 10.1002/cplu.201700070. Epub 2017 Apr 24.

Abstract

New benzothiadiazole derivatives, 4,7-bis(5-phenylthiophen-2-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole (PT-BTD) and 4,7-bis[4-(thiophen-2-yl)phenyl]benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole (TP-BTD), were synthesized and characterized as small-molecule organic semiconductors for organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) and complementary inverters. The thermal, optical, and electrochemical properties of the new compounds were fully characterized. Vacuum-deposition and solution-shearing methods were used to fabricate thin films based on these compounds. Thin films based on PT-BTD exhibited p-channel characteristics with hole mobilities as high as 0.10 cm2 V-1 s-1 and current on/off ratios >107 for top-contact/bottom-gate OTFT devices. With an optimized blending ratio of PT-BTD and the representative n-channel semiconductor N,N'-1H,1H-perfluorobutyl dicyanoperylenediimide, bulk heterojunction ambipolar transistors were fabricated with balanced hole and electron mobilities of 0.10 and 0.07 cm2 V-1 s-1 , respectively. Furthermore, a complementary-like inverter was fabricated using ambipolar thin-film transistors, which showed a high voltage gain of 84.

Keywords: benzothiadiazoles; organic thin-film transistors; self-assembled monolayers; semiconductors; thin films.