25th anniversary article: organic field-effect transistors: the path beyond amorphous silicon

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Organic Electronics
• Semiconductor Physics

Background:

• Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) have advanced significantly over 25 years.
• Materials performance has improved by 3-4 orders of magnitude.
• Recent OFETs now outperform benchmark amorphous silicon devices.

Purpose of the Study:

• Review the state-of-the-art in OFETs.
• Discuss requirements for demanding applications, especially flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays.
• Provide an overview of high-performance small molecule and conjugated polymer materials.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of key materials discoveries and performance metrics.
• Analysis of charge transport physics in disordered organic semiconductors.
• Assessment of OFETs against application-specific requirements.

Main Results:

• Field-effect mobilities exceeding 1 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) have been reported for both small molecule and conjugated polymer OFETs.
• Understanding of charge transport physics enabling high mobilities in disordered materials is reviewed.
• OFET performance is evaluated in the context of flexible active-matrix displays.

Conclusions:

• OFETs are nearing performance levels suitable for advanced applications like flexible OLED displays.
• Further improvements in OFET performance are anticipated based on current understanding of charge transport.
• Continued research in organic semiconductor materials and device physics is crucial.