(Invited) Organic Thin Films Transistors: From Mechanical to Biochemical Sensors
Authors: Thuau Damien 
Published: November 2022

Interest in organic electronic materials, and in particular their potential for low-cost fabrication over large areas, led to the development of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). The potential of OFETs has been demonstrated in a variety of applications, including pixel drivers for displays, bionic skin, wearable electronics and sensitive chemical sensors that can operate in aqueous environments. OFETs use conjugated, semiconducting small molecules and polymers and offer an alternative to inorganic devices for applications in which facile processing on different substrates and tunable electronic properties are required. The flexibility requirement implies either performance stability towards deformation, or conversely, detectable response to the deformation itself. The knowledge of the electromechanical response of organic semiconductors to external stresses is therefore not only interesting from a fundamental point of view, but also necessary for the development of real world applications. To this end, this presentation highlights the importance of the choice of functional materials (organic semiconductors and dielectrics) as well as the relationship structure/properties in transistors based sensors.

Organic semiconductors (OSCs) are promising transducer materials when applied in OFETs taking advantage of their electrical properties that highly depend on the morphology of the semiconducting film. The effects of a high-performance p-type organic semiconductor, namely dinaphtho [2,3-b:2,3-f] thieno [3,2–b] thiophene (DNTT) thickness on its piezoresistive sensitivity are presented. A critical thickness corresponding to the appearance of charge carriers percolation paths in the material can tune the gauge factors (GFs) by a factor 10. In addition, single crystal OSC are regarded as promising electroactive materials for strain sensing application. Herein this talk, we will present how strain induces simultaneous mobility changes along all three axes, and that in some cases the response is higher along directions orthogonal to the mechanical deformation. These variations cannot be explained by the modulation of intermolecular distances, but only by a more complex molecular reorganisation, which is particularly enhanced, in terms of response, by p-stacking and herringbone stacking. This microscopic knowledge of the relation between structural and mobility variations is essential for the interpretation of electromechanical measurements for crystalline organic semiconductors, and for the rational design of electronic devices. Alternatively, this talk will highlight how the use of an active gate dielectric layer such as poly(vinylidenefluoride/trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)) piezoelectric polymer can lead to highly efficient electro-mechanical sensitivity. In such case, the sensing mechanism of the electro-mechanical transducer originates from the piezoelectric material itself, which affects the electrical behavior of the transistor as signature of a mechanical event.

The second part of this talk will focus on another kind of TFT based sensor, namely the organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) which have found recently applications in chemical and biological sensing and interfacing and neuromorphic computing. OECT rely on ions that are injected from the electrolyte into polymer-based mixed conductors, thereby changing its doping state and hence its conductivity. While great progress has been achieved, organic mixed conductors frequently experience significant volumetric changes during ion uptake/rejection, i.e., during doping/ de-doping and charging/discharging. Although ion dynamics may be enhanced in expanded networks, these volumetric changes can have undesirable consequences, e.g., negatively affecting hole/electron conduction and severely shortening device lifetime. New materials able to transport ions and electrons/holes and that exhibits low swelling will be presented, expanding the materials-design toolbox for the creation of low-swelling soft mixed conductors with tailored properties and applications in bioelectronics and beyond.