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Department of Physics

The Cavendish Laboratory
 

Spatial Control of the Recombination Zone in an Ambipolar Organic Light-emitting TransistorThe research in semiconducting polymers for use as transistors is focused on the charge transport physics of organic semiconductors, and their application in field-effect transistor devices fabricated by solution-processing and direct printing techniques.

Many properties of polymer semiconductor depend on the transport of charges along the polymer backbone and from one polymer chain to another polymer chain. Field-effect transistors are a convenient tool for studying these charge transport processes in conjugated polymers. Charges in polymers experience a strong electron-phonon coupling and tend to form so-called polarons. The transport of these polarons is in many respects similar to the electron transfer processes that occur in biological processes such as photosynthesis, and we have developed a number of experimental techniques to study these processes on a molecular scale.

Polymer light-emitting field-effect transistorsMajor areas of current research include:

  • Charge transport and device physics of organic semiconductors
  • Scanning probe characterization of nanoscale charge transport
  • High resolution and self-aligned printing for micro- and nanofabrication
  • Study of n-type and ambipolar transport in organic semiconductors and recombination in light-emitting field-effect transistors

The devices constructed using the printing technology have resulted in high performance organic transistors on a length scale of 100 nm. These innovations are being exploited by the successful spin-off company Plastic Logic.