Effect of oxygen plasma treatment on crystal growth mode at pentacene/Ni interface in organic thin-film transistors

We report how treatment of nickel (Ni) with O(2) plasma affects the polarity of Ni surface, crystallinity of pentacene film on the Ni, and electrical properties of pentacene organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) that use Ni as source-drain electrodes. The polar component of surface energy in Ni surface increased from 8.1 to 43.3 mJ/m(2) after O(2)-plasma treatment for 10 s. From X-ray photoelectron spectra and secondary electron emission spectra, we found that NiO(x) was formed on the O(2)-plasma-treated Ni surface and the work function of O(2)-plasma-treated Ni was 0.85 eV higher than that of untreated Ni. X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy measurements showed that pentacene molecules are well aligned as a thin-film and grains grow much larger on O(2)-plasma-treated Ni than on untreated Ni. This change in the growth mode is attributed to the reduction of interaction energy between pentacene and Ni due to formation of oxide at the Ni/pentacene interface. Thus, O(2)-plasma treatment promoted the growth of well-ordered pentacene film and lowered both the hole injection barrier and the contact resistance between Ni and pentacene by forming NiO(x), enhancing the electrical property of bottom-contact OTFTs.