Developing Software for the Beam Line Control Systems

Scientists from all around the world come to National Laboratories to perform X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) experiments. XAS experiments are used to determine the chemistry component of an object or material of interest. In a typical XAS experiment, the incident X-ray beam energy is varied in a region close to a fundamental electronic transition of the atom(s) of interest. The data has to be collected most densely in the immediate vicinity of the transition (also called edge). XAS scans are therefore often comprised of differently dense regions. The user can define how the data will be collected in each region by typing commands on the beam line console which can be tedious and time consuming. To facilitate this process we designed a graphical user interface (GUI) that will have all the necessary components for the user to define each region by simply typing in textboxes and using the mouse to click on labeled buttons which execute the desired event

Ordering in weakly bound molecular layers: organic-inorganic and organic-organic heteroepitaxy

It is an aim of this work to provide insight into the energetic influence on the ordering of molecular thin films on crystalline substrates. Here, the term substrate either refers to inorganic crystal surfaces or highly ordered layers of another organic molecular species. In order to calculate the total interface potential of extended molecular domains, a new calculation technique (GRID technique) is developed in the first part of this work. Compared to the standard approach, this method accelerates the potential calculation drastically (times 10000). The other parts of the thesis are dedicated to the comparison of experimental results (obtained by scanning tunneling microscopy and electron diffraction) to the optimal layer structure as predicted by optimization calculations. Potential calculations which are performed for the system perylenetetracarboxylicdianhydride (PTCDA) on graphite demonstrate that point-on-line coincident structures correspond to energetically favorable alignments of the molecular lattice with respect to the substrate lattice. The capability of the GRID technique to predict the optimal layer structure is demonstrated for the system peri-hexabenzocoronene (HBC) on graphite. The organic-organic heteroepitaxy system PTCDA on HBC on graphite is investigated in order to clarify to which extent the ordering mechanism there differs from that of the organic-inorganic heteroepitaxy system PTCDA on graphite. As a result of this investigation, a new type of epitaxy, i.e., substrate induced ordering is found. This new epitaxy type is governed by the inner structure of the substrate lattice unit cell. Here, the substrate surface is a layer of organic molecules itself, hence the substrate surface unit cell does indeed exhibit a complex inner structure. A generalized classification scheme for epitaxial growth incorporating this new type of epitaxy is proposed. In the last chapter, the structure of the first layers of titanylphthalocyanine (TiOPc) on Au(111) is investigated and compared to potential optimization calculations. The correspondence of experimental and theoretical results provides evidence that the GRID technique can, in principle, also be applied to molecular layers on metal surfaces.Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, Einblicke in die energetischen Einflüsse, die zur Ausbildung der Schichtstruktur organischer Moleküle auf kristallinen Substraten führen, zu geben. Diese Substrate sind entweder Oberflächen anorganische Kristalle oder selbst hochgeordnete Molekülschichten. Um das totale Grenzflächenpotential ausgedehnter Moleküldomänen berechnen zu können, wird im ersten Teil der Arbeit eine neue Berechnungsmethode (GRID Technik) vorgestellt. Im Vergleich mit herkömmlichen Berechnungsmethoden auf der Basis molekülmechanischer Kraftfelder ist diese neue Methode daher um ein Vielfaches schneller (Faktor 100000). Die folgenden Teile der Arbeit sind dem Vergleich experimenteller Ergebnisse (Rastertunnelmikroskopie und Elektronenbeugung) mit, durch Potentialoptimierungsrechnungen als energetisch günstig vorhergesagten, Schichtstrukturen gewidmet. So kann für das System Perylentetracarbonsäuredianhydrid (PTCDA) auf Graphit mittels Potentialberechnungen nachgewiesen werden, daß die experimentell gefundenen ?Point-on-line koinzidenten? Strukturen energetisch günstige Anordnungen des Molekülgitters bezüglich des Substratgitters darstellen. Die Eignung der neuen Berechnungsmethode zur Vorhersage der günstigsten Adsorbatgitterstruktur für ein gegebenes System aus Molekül und Substrat, wird anhand des Systems peri-Hexabenzocoronen (HBC) auf Graphit demonstriert. Das organisch-organische Heteroepitaxiesystem PTCDA auf HBC auf Graphit wird untersucht, um zu klären, inwieweit sich die dafür gültigen Ordnungsmechanismen von denen unterscheiden, die für das Wachstum des organisch-anorganischen Heteroepitaxiesystems PTCDA auf Graphit verantwortlich sind. Dabei gelingt es, eine bisher nicht klassifizierte Art von Epitaxie, d.h. substratinduzierter Ordnung, nachzuweisen. Dieser neue Epitaxietyp ist bedingt durch die innere Struktur einer Substrateinheitszelle - das Substrat ist ja hier selbst eine Schicht geordneter Moleküle, die natürlich eine innere Struktur aufweisen. Im folgenden wird ein verallgemeinertes Klassifizierungssystem für Epitaxietypen abgeleitet, welches den neuen Epitaxietyp beinhaltet. Im letzten Kapitel wird die Struktur von der ersten Lagen von Titanylphthalocyanin (TiOPc) auf Au(111) experimentell untersucht und mit entsprechenden Potentialoptimierungsrechnungen verglichen. Die Übereinstimmung von experimentellen und theoretischen Ergebnissen zeigt, daß die GRID Technik, zumindest prinzipiell, auch für Molekülschichten auf Metallsubstraten anwendbar ist

Influence of chemical interactions on the electronic properties of BiOI/organic semiconductor heterojunctions for application in solution-processed electronics

Bismuth oxide iodide (BiOI) has been viewed as a suitable environmentally-friendly alternative to lead-halide perovskites for low-cost (opto-)electronic applications such as photodetectors, phototransistors and sensors. To enable its incorporation in these devices in a convenient, scalable, and economical way, BiOI thin films were investigated as part of heterojunctions with various p-type organic semiconductors (OSCs) and tested in a field-effect transistor (FET) configuration. The hybrid heterojunctions, which combine the respective functionalities of BiOI and the OSCs were processed from solution under ambient atmosphere. The characteristics of each of these hybrid systems were correlated with the physical and chemical properties of the respective materials using a concept based on heteropolar chemical interactions at the interface. Systems suitable for application in lateral transport devices were identified and it was demonstrated how materials in the hybrids interact to provide improved and synergistic properties. These indentified heterojunction FETs are a first instance of successful incorporation of solution-processed BiOI thin films in a three-terminal device. They show a significant threshold voltage shift and retained carrier mobility compared to pristine OSC devices and open up possibilities for future optoelectronic applications

Introducing pinMOS Memory: A Novel, Nonvolatile Organic Memory Device

In recent decades, organic memory devices have been researched intensely and they can, among other application scenarios, play an important role in the vision of an internet of things. Most studies concentrate on storing charges in electronic traps or nanoparticles while memory types where the information is stored in the local charge up of an integrated capacitance and presented by capacitance received far less attention. Here, a new type of programmable organic capacitive memory called p-i-n-metal-oxide-semiconductor (pinMOS) memory is demonstrated with the possibility to store multiple states. Another attractive property is that this simple, diode-based pinMOS memory can be written as well as read electrically and optically. The pinMOS memory device shows excellent repeatability, an endurance of more than 104 write-read-erase-read cycles, and currently already over 24 h retention time. The working mechanism of the pinMOS memory under dynamic and steady-state operations is investigated to identify further optimization steps. The results reveal that the pinMOS memory principle is promising as a reliable capacitive memory device for future applications in electronic and photonic circuits like in neuromorphic computing or visual memory systems. © 2019 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinhei

Charge Carrier Mobility Improvement in Diketopyrrolopyrrole Block-Copolymers by Shear Coating

Shear coating is a promising deposition method for upscaling device fabrication and enabling high throughput, and is furthermore suitable for translating to roll-to-roll processing. Although common polymer semiconductors (PSCs) are solution processible, they are still prone to mechanical failure upon stretching, limiting applications in e.g., electronic skin and health monitoring. Progress made towards mechanically compliant PSCs, e.g., the incorporation of soft segments into the polymer backbone, could not only allow such applications, but also benefit advanced fabrication methods, like roll-to-roll printing on flexible substrates, to produce the targeted devices. Tri-block copolymers (TBCs), consisting of an inner rigid semiconducting poly-diketo-pyrrolopyrrole-thienothiophene (PDPP-TT) block flanked by two soft elastomeric poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) chains, maintain good charge transport properties, while being mechanically soft and flexible. Potentially aiming at the fabrication of TBC-based wearable electronics by means of cost-efficient and scalable deposition methods (e.g., blade-coating), a tolerance of the electrical performance of the TBCs to the shear speed was investigated. Herein, we demonstrate that such TBCs can be deposited at high shear speeds (film formation up to a speed of 10 mm s−1). While such high speeds result in increased film thickness, no degradation of the electrical performance was observed, as was frequently reported for polymer−based OFETs. Instead, high shear speeds even led to a small improvement in the electrical performance: mobility increased from 0.06 cm2 V−1 s−1 at 0.5 mm s−1 to 0.16 cm2 V−1 s−1 at 7 mm s−1 for the TBC with 24 wt% PDMS, and for the TBC containing 37 wt% PDMS from 0.05 cm2 V−1 s−1 at 0.5 mm s−1 to 0.13 cm2 V−1 s−1 at 7 mm s−1. Interestingly, the improvement of mobility is not accompanied by any significant changes in morphology

Electronic Doping and Enhancement of n‐Channel Polycrystalline OFET Performance through Gate Oxide Modifications with Aminosilanes

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) are widely employed in organic field-effect transistors to modify the surface energy, surface roughness, film growth kinetics, and electrical surface potential of the gate oxide to control the device's operating voltage. In this study, amino-functionalized SAM molecules are compared to pure alkylsilane SAMS in terms of their impact on the electrical properties of organic field-effect transistors, using the n-type polycrystalline small molecule semiconductor material N,N′-dioctyl-3,4,9,10-perylenedicarboximide (PTCDI-C8). In order to understand the electronic impact of the amino groups, the effect of both the number of amino-containing functional groups and the SAM molecular length are systematically studied. Though amino-functionalized SAM materials have been studied previously, this study is, for the first time, able to shed light on the nature of the doping effect that occurs when the gate oxide is treated with polar aminosilane materials. By a comprehensive theoretical study of the interface on the molecular level, it is shown that the observed shift in the threshold voltage is caused by free charges, which are attracted to the PTCDI-C8 and are stabilized there by protonated aminosilanes. This attraction and the voltage shift can be systematically tuned by varying the length of the neutral terminal chain of the aminosilane. © 2021 The Authors. Advanced Materials Interfaces published by Wiley-VCH Gmb

Ultrasoft and High-Mobility Block Copolymers for Skin-Compatible Electronics

Polymer semiconductors (PSCs) are an essential component of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), but their potential for stretchable electronics is limited by their brittleness and failure susceptibility upon strain. Herein, a covalent connection of two state-of-the-art polymers—semiconducting poly-diketo-pyrrolopyrrole-thienothiophene (PDPP-TT) and elastomeric poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)—in a single triblock copolymer (TBC) chain is reported, which enables high charge carrier mobility and low modulus in one system. Three TBCs containing up to 65 wt% PDMS were obtained, and the TBC with 65 wt% PDMS content exhibits mobilities up to 0.1 cm2 V−1 s−1, in the range of the fully conjugated reference polymer PDPP-TT (0.7 cm2 V−1 s−1). The TBC is ultrasoft with a low elastic modulus (5 MPa) in the range of mammalian tissue. The TBC exhibits an excellent stretchability and extraordinary durability, fully maintaining the initial electric conductivity in a doped state after 1500 cycles to 50% strain. © 2020 The Authors. Advanced Materials published by Wiley-VCH Gmb

Tuning Charge Transport in Solution-Sheared Organic Semiconductors Using Lattice Strain

Circuits based on organic semiconductors are being actively explored for flexible, transparent and low-cost electronic applications. But to realize such applications, the charge carrier mobilities of solution-processed organic semiconductors must be improved. For inorganic semiconductors, a general method of increasing charge carrier mobility is to introduce strain within the crystal lattice. Here we describe a solution-processing technique for organic semiconductors in which lattice strain is used to increase charge carrier mobilities by introducing greater electron orbital overlap between the component molecules. For organic semiconductors, the spacing between cofacially stacked, conjugated backbones (the π–π stacking distance) greatly influences electron orbital overlap and therefore mobility. Using our method to incrementally introduce lattice strain, we alter the π–π stacking distance of 6,13-bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS-pentacene) from 3.33Å to 3.08 Å. We believe that 3.08Å is the shortest π–π stacking distance that has been achieved in an organic semiconductor crystal lattice (although a π–π distance of 3.04Å has been achieved through intramolecular bonding). The positive charge carrier (hole) mobility in TIPS-pentacene transistors increased from $0.8 cm^2 V^{−1} s^{−1}$ for unstrained films to a high mobility of $4.6 cm^2 V^{−1} s^{−1}$ for a strained film. Using solution processing to modify molecular packing through lattice strain should aid the development of high-performance, low-cost organic semiconducting devices.Chemistry and Chemical Biolog

Surface-Modified Phthalocyanine-Based Two-Dimensional Conjugated Metal–Organic Framework Films for Polarity-Selective Chemiresistive Sensing

Surface-modification of phthalocyanine-based two-dimensional conjugated metal-organic framework (2D c-MOF) films by grafting aliphatic alkyl chains is developed for achieving high-performance polarity-selective chemiresistive sensing toward humidity and polar alcohols. 2D conjugated metal–organic frameworks (2D c-MOFs) are emerging as electroactive materials for chemiresistive sensors, but selective sensing with fast response/recovery is a challenge. Phthalocyanine-based Ni2[MPc(NH)8] 2D c-MOF films are presented as active layers for polarity-selective chemiresisitors toward water and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Surface-hydrophobic modification by grafting aliphatic alkyl chains on 2D c-MOF films decreases diffused analytes into the MOF backbone, resulting in a considerably accelerated recovery progress (from ca. 50 to ca. 10 s) during humidity sensing. Toward VOCs, the sensors deliver a polarity-selective response among alcohols but no signal for low-polarity aprotic hydrocarbons. The octadecyltrimethoxysilane-modified Ni2[MPc(NH)8] based sensor displays high-performance methanol sensing with fast response (36 s)/recovery (13 s) and a detection limit as low as 10 ppm, surpassing reported room-temperature chemiresistors

Sequentially Processed P3HT/CN6-CP•−NBu4+ Films: Interfacial or Bulk Doping?

Derivatives of the hexacyano-[3]-radialene anion radical (CN6-CP•−) emerge as a promising new family of p-dopants having a doping strength comparable to that of archetypical dopant 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyano-quinodimethane (F4TCNQ). Here, mixed solution (MxS) and sequential processing (SqP) doping methods are compared by using a model semiconductor poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and the dopant CN6-CP•−NBu4 + (NBu4 + = tetrabutylammonium). MxS films show a moderate yet thickness-independent conductivity of ≈0.1 S cm−1. For the SqP case, the highest conductivity value of ≈6 S cm−1 is achieved for the thinnest (1.5–3 nm) films whereas conductivity drops two orders of magnitudes for 100 times thicker films. These results are explained in terms of an interfacial doping mechanism realized in the SqP films, where only layers close to the P3HT/dopant interface are doped efficiently, whereas internal P3HT layers remain essentially undoped. This structure is in agreement with transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and Kelvin probe force microscopy results. The temperature-dependent conductivity measurements reveal a lower activation energy for charge carriers in SqP samples than in MxS films (79 meV vs 110 meV), which could be a reason for their superior conductivity. © 2020 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinhei