Plasmon-enhanced organic field effect transistors

Abstract

The low cost and ease of fabrication of organic electronic devices is often overlooked due to their lower performance parameters and poor stability under atmospheric conditions. Thus, steps need to be taken to improve the technology in meaningful ways to compete with their inorganic counterparts. In this context, the integration of plasmonic materials and nanostructures into the channel or gate dielectric of organic field transistors (OFETs) enables improvements in the performance and function of phototransistors, transistor-based optical memory devices, organic light emitting transistors (OLETs) and organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs). Schottky barrier phototransistors integrated with chiral plasmonic nanoparticles enable detection of circularly polarized light. In OLETs, integration with surface plasmons improves local electroluminescence yields as well as the directionality of emission and the light outcoupling efficiency. The detection sensitivity of OECTs was enhanced by the local field enhancement effect and improved electron transfer effect associated with gold nanoparticles integrated into the OECT. Graphene plasmons achieved strong confinement of THz radiation and thus enabled gated terahertz and infrared detectors. Plasmonic field effect transistors also present a way to convert and amplify the energy of surface plasmons into electrical energy as well as control hot carrier injection currents through modulation of the metal-semiconductor Schottky barrier.