Use of an Underlayer for Large Area Crystallization of Rubrene Thin Films

Fusella, Michael A.; Yang, Siyu; Abbasi, Kevin; Choi, Hyun Ho; Yao, Zhuozhi; Podzorov, Vitaly; Avishai, Amir; Rand, Barry P.

doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b01143

Use of an Underlayer for Large Area Crystallization of Rubrene Thin Films

Journal Article · Sun Jul 16 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Chemistry of Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b01143· OSTI ID:1595412

Fusella, Michael A. ^[1]; Yang, Siyu ^[2]; Abbasi, Kevin ^[3]; Choi, Hyun Ho ^[4]; Yao, Zhuozhi ^[2]; Podzorov, Vitaly ^[4]; Avishai, Amir ^[3]; ^[2]

Princeton Univ., NJ (United States); Princeton University
Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH (United States)
Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (United States)

In this work, we discovered a very efficient method of crystallization of thermally evaporated rubrene, resulting in ultrathin, large-area, fully connected, and highly crystalline thin films of this organic semiconductor with a grain size of up to 500 μm and charge carrier mobility of up to 3.5 cm2 V^–1 s^–1. We found that it is critical to use a 5 nm-thick organic underlayer on which a thin film of amorphous rubrene is evaporated and then annealed to dramatically influence the ability of rubrene to crystallize. The underlayer property that controls this influence is the glass transition temperature. By experimenting with different underlayers with glass transition temperatures varying over 120 °C, we identified the molecules leading to the best crystallinity of rubrene films and explained why values both above and below the optimum result in poor crystallinity. We discuss the formation of different crystalline morphologies of rubrene produced by this method and show that field-effect transistors made with films of a single-domain platelet morphology, achieved through the aid of the optimal underlayer, outperform their spherulite counterparts with a nearly four times higher charge carrier mobility. Here, this large-area crystallization technique overcomes the fabrication bottleneck of high-mobility rubrene thin film transistors and other related devices and, given its scalability and patternability, may lead to practical technologies compatible with large-area flexible electronics.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012458

OSTI ID:: 1595412

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1534460

Journal Information:: Chemistry of Materials, Journal Name: Chemistry of Materials Journal Issue: 16 Vol. 29; ISSN 0897-4756

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Oxidation of rubrene, and implications for device stability Ly, Jack T.; Lopez, Steven A.; Lin, Janice B. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, Vol. 6, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1039/c7tc05775j	journal	January 2018

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