Exploiting lateral current flow due to doped layers in semiconductor devices having crossbar electrodes

Organic electronic devices such as light-emitting diodes, solar cells or rectifying diodes normally have a sandwich layer architecture stacked between the electrodes in a crossbar layout. Often however, the side effects of operating the devices in such an arrangement are either ignored or give rise to misinterpretations regarding the device performance or layer quality. For the sake of simplicity, device currents are typically assumed to exclusively flow in the direction vertical to the substrate, even though the conductivity of doped organic layers is high and gives rise to significant lateral current flows. Here, we study the vertical and lateral charge up along the n-doped and the p-doped layers as well as the resulting capacitance increase of charging the intrinsic layer outside the active area. We observe that controlling such lateral charging by structuring the doped layers can reduce the leakage current dramatically. We employ impedance spectroscopy to investigate the lateral charging responsibility for the capacitance increase at low frequencies. Modeling of the devices by a distributed RC circuit model yields information about the thickness, the conductivity, and the corresponding activation energy of both, the n-doped and the p-doped layers, simultaneously. We demonstrate that the capacitive effects from lateral charging can easily be misinterpreted as trap states in capacitance frequency characteristics. However, correct analysis with the proposed model actually yields rich and detailed post-fabrication information which can be utilized in device failure and degradation tests. Moreover, our results will aid the design and characterization of new electronic devices where lateral charge flow is part of the device concept.