Inverted, Organic WORM Device Based on PEDOT:PSS with Very Low Turn-On Voltage

Journal Article · Sat May 17 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Organic Electronics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgel.2014.05.003· OSTI ID:1136223

Nawrocki, Robert A. ^[1]; Galiger, Erin M. ^[1]; Ostrowski, David P. ^[2]; Bailey, Brian A. ^[1]; Jiang, Xin ^[1]; Voyles, Richard M. ^[3]; Kopidakis, Nikos ^[4]; Olson, Dana C. ^[4]; Shaheen, Sean E. ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Denver, CO (United States)
2. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
3. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
4. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

An organic Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) device based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) as the active layer was fabricated with an inverted architecture. Insertion of an ultrathin layer of poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) between the bottom electrode and the PEDOT:PSS resulted in a systematic and substantial decrease in turn-on voltage, from 7.0 V to less than 1.0 V. An optimal thickness of the PMMA layer was found to yield the lowest consistent turn-on voltage of ~0.8 V, with 0.5 V being the lowest value of all fabricated devices. The switching mechanism was attributed to filamentary doping of the PEDOT:PSS. Insertion of the PMMA acted to protect the underlying ZnO from being etched by the acidic PEDOT:PSS as well as to improve its wetting properties. Moreover, devices were demonstrated on both ITO and aluminum bottom electrodes, with aluminum yielding the highest ON/OFF ratios in the study. Owing to their inverted architecture, the devices demonstrated good stability, and the retention time of the ON-state was determined to be greater than twenty months while stored in air for devices with ITO bottom electrodes. Blade-coating was demonstrated as a viable processing technique for applications requiring rapid or large-area manufacturing in addition to deposition via spin-coating.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1136223
• Journal Information: Organic Electronics, Vol. 15, Issue 8, August 2014; ISSN 1566-1199
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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