Space Environment Effects on Flexible, Low-Voltage Organic Thin-Film Transistors

Organic electronic devices fabricated on flexible substrates are promising candidates for applications in environments where flexible, lightweight, and radiation hard materials are required. In this work, device parameters such as threshold voltage, charge mobility, and trap density of 13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)pentacene (TIPS-pentacene)-based organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) have been monitored for performing electrical measurements before and after irradiation by high-energy protons. The observed reduction of charge carrier mobility following irradiation can be only partially ascribed to the increased trap density. Indeed, we used other techniques to identify additional effects induced by proton irradiation in such devices. Atomic force microscopy reveals morphological defects occurring in the organic dielectric layer induced by the impinging protons, which, in turn, induce a strain on the TIPS-pentacene crystallites lying above. The effects of this strain are investigated by density functional theory simulations of two model structures, which describe the TIPS-pentacene crystalline films at equilibrium and under strain. The two different density of states distributions in the valence band have been correlated with the photocurrent spectra acquired before and after proton irradiation. We conclude that the degradation of the dielectric layer and the organic semiconductor sensitivity to strain are the two main phenomena responsible for the reduction of OTFT mobility after proton irradiation.