Laser printing of a semiconducting oligomer as active layer in organic thin film transistors: Impact of a protecting triazene layer

Organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) devices were achieved using the laser-induced forward transfer technique. As p-type organic semiconductor, distyryl-quaterthiophene (DS4T) was vacuum-deposited on a donor substrate and transferred with picosecond laser pulses on Si/SiO2-based receiver substrates to form an organic active layer. To avoid laser damage of the organic thin film, a UV-sensitive aryltriazene polymer as a sacrificial layer was used. The polymer layer, deposited on the donor substrate prior to the organic layer deposition, has high absorption at the laser wavelength and does not contaminate the printed pixels. The DS4T pixels printed on receiver substrates have well defined morphological properties as shown by atomic force microscopy and scanning electronic microscopy. OTFT devices were characterized in top- and bottom-contact configurations using thermally evaporated gold lines as source-drain electrodes. DS4T pixels printed as active layer for charge transport not only issue mobility values comparable to DS4T layers prepared by vacuum evaporation but also a relative electrical stability over time. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.