Adam R. Brown

Pentacene films deposited with molecular beam deposition have been fabricated and characterized with respect to structure and morphology using x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Metal-insulator semiconductor field-effect transistor devices based on such films were used to study their transport properties. A maximum field-effect mobility of 0.038 cm−2 V−1 s−1 is reported for devices incorporating pentacene films deposited at room temperature. The structural characterization revealed the coexistence of two phases: the thermodynamically stable single-crystal phase and the kinetically favored, metastable thin-film phase. Such mixed phase films were produced when low deposition rates were used in combination with a substrate temperature of 55 °C. Mixed phase films had transport properties inferior to films consisting solely of one phase, while amorphous films deposited at low surface mobility conditions had extremely low conductivity. Use of prepurified pentacene as source material resulted in an order of magnitude lower free-carrier concentration in the pentacene film as compared to films made with as-received pentacene.

We have fabricated light-emitting diodes with poly(p-phenylenevinylene) as the emissive layer, and with an electron-transporting layer formed from a solid state dispersion of 2-(4-biphenylyl)-5-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole in poly(methyl methacrylate), placed between this and the negative electrode. These structures show typically a tenfold improvement in efficiency in the low-voltage regime and an eightfold improvement in the high-voltage regime over devices without the electron-transporting layer. Typical efficiencies are about 0.8% photons/electron. We consider that the role of the electron-transport layer is to confine holes to the emissive layer.