Instantaneous Pulsed-Light Cross-Linking of a Polymer Gate Dielectric for Flexible Organic Thin-Film Transistors.

We report the instantaneous pulsed-light cross-linking of polymer gate dielectrics on a flexible substrate by using intensely pulsed white light (IPWL) irradiation. Irradiation with IPWL for only 1.8 s of a poly(4-vinylphenol) (PVP) thin film with the cross-linking agent poly(melamine-co-formaldehyde) (PMF) deposited on a plastic substrate was found to yield fully cross-linked PVP films. It was confirmed that the IPWL-cross-linked PVP films have smooth pinhole-free surfaces and exhibit a low leakage current density, organic solvent resistance, and good compatibility with organic semiconductor, and that they can be used as replacements for typical PVP dielectrics that are cross-linked with time and energy intensive thermal heating processes. The synchronization of the IPWL irradiation with substrate transfer was found to enable the preparation of cross-linked PVP films on large area substrates with a highly uniform capacitance. Flexible OTFT based on IPWL-cross-linked PVP dielectrics were found to exhibit good electrical performance that is comparable to that of devices with thermally cross-linked PVP dielectric, as well as excellent deformation stability even at a bending radius of 3 mm.

Switching Mechanisms of Nonvolatile Memory Devices Fabricated with a Polydopamine Layer.

Nonvolatile memory devices based on a polydopamine (PDA) layer were fabricated by using a dip-coating process. Atomic force microscopy images revealed that the PDA layer had a conformal surface. The energy dispersive X-ray data showed the atomic stoichiometry of nitrogen and carbon in the PDA layer. The capacitance-voltage (C-V) curves of the Al/PDA/n-Si memory devices at 300 K showed a hysteresis with a large flat band shift, indicating that the incomplete PDA layer acted as a charge storage in the memory device. The switching mechanisms for the writing and erasing processes for the Al/PDA/n-Si devices are described on the basis of the C-V results and the energy band diagrams.

Intense pulsed light induced crystallization of a liquid-crystalline polymer semiconductor for efficient production of flexible thin-film transistors.

Here we demonstrated the split-second crystallization of a liquid-crystalline conjugated polymer semiconductor induced by irradiation with intense pulsed white light (IPWL) for the efficient improvement of electrical properties of flexible thin film transistors. A few seconds of IPWL irradiation of poly(didodecylquaterthiophene-alt-didodecylbithiazole) (PQTBTz-C12) thin films generated heat energy through the photo-thermal effect, leading to the crystallization of PQTBTz-C12 and formation of nodule-like nanostructures. The IPWL-induced crystallization of PQTBTz-C12 resulted in a threefold improvement in the field-effect mobility of thin film transistors compared to as-prepared devices. The conformational change of the PQTBTz-C12 chains was found to be strongly related to the irradiation fluence. As a proof-of-concept, the IPWL treatment was successfully applied to the PQTBTz-C12 layer in flexible transistors based on plastic substrates. The performance of these flexible devices was significantly improved after only 0.6 s of IPWL treatment, without deformation of the plastic substrate.

Split-second nanostructure control of a polymer:fullerene photoactive layer using intensely pulsed white light for highly efficient production of polymer solar cells.

Intensely pulsed white light (IPWL) treatment was tested as an ultrafast, large-area processable optical technique for the control of the nanostructure of a polymeric bulk-heterojunction photoactive layer to improve the efficiencies of polymer solar cells. Only 2 s of IPWL irradiation of a polymer:fullerene photoactive layer under ambient conditions was found to enhance significantly the power conversion efficiencies of the tested polymer solar cells to values approaching that of typical devices treated with thermal annealing. Consecutive white-light pulses from the xenon lamp induce the self-organization of the polymeric donor into an ordered structure and result in the optimized phase segregation of the polymeric donor and the fullerene acceptor in the photoactive layer, which enhances the light absorption and hole mobility and results in efficient photocurrent generation. The effects of varying the pulse conditions on device performance, including the irradiation fluence, pulse duration time, and number of pulses, were systematically investigated. Finally, it was successfully demonstrated that the IPWL treatment produces flexible polymer solar cells. The proposed IPWL process is suitable for the efficient industrial roll-to-roll production of polymer solar cells.