Effect of the Organic Buffer Layer on Charge Injection and Transport Characteristics in Organic Transistors With Different Channel Lengths

Abstract

Extensive research on channel downscaling has led to notable advancements in semiconductor technology. Studying the size reduction of organic transistors remains an important task that necessitates a comprehensive understanding, especially for the short-channel effect. In this work, we investigated the impacts of the insertion of the organic buffer layer and channel length scaling on contact resistance, charge transport, and, consequently, the device performance. Incorporation of an organic buffer layer between the source/drain (S/D) electrodes and the organic semiconductor (OSC) leads to a substantially decreased contact resistance, closely correlated with improved drain-induced barrier lowering (DIBL) and interface trap density. This behavior is especially noticeable in devices with shorter channel lengths, where the contacts play a critical role in the whole charge transport. Our results provide insights into the development of upcoming electronic components, specifically in the field of organic field-effect transistor (OFET) device physics, with short channel lengths.