Trap-limited electron transport in disordered semiconducting polymers

The electron transport in diodes of poly(dialkoxy-p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV) derivatives is strongly reduced as compared to the hole transport. A recent reexamination [M. M. Mandoc , Phys. Rev. B 73, 155205 (2006)] revealed that the room-temperature electron current shows the fingerprints of trap-limited transport with a distribution of traps in energy. Here, we report on the measured temperature dependence of the electron current in these PPV derivatives. This dependence is weak and seems to be in contradiction with existing trap-limited models. We demonstrate that the presence of a Gaussian density of states (DOS) for the mobile carriers, being characteristic for disordered semiconductors, reduces the temperature dependence of the trap-limited charge transport. The reduction is governed by the width of the Gaussian DOS and originates from the equilibrium concentrations of the mobile and trapped carriers

Synthesis, structure, and opto-electronic properties of organic-based nanoscale heterojunctions

Enormous research effort has been put into optimizing organic-based opto-electronic systems for efficient generation of free charge carriers. This optimization is mainly due to typically high dissociation energy (0.1-1 eV) and short diffusion length (10 nm) of excitons in organic materials. Inherently, interplay of microscopic structural, chemical, and opto-electronic properties plays crucial role. We show that employing and combining advanced scanning probe techniques can provide us significant insight into the correlation of these properties. By adjusting parameters of contact- and tapping-mode atomic force microscopy (AFM), we perform morphologic and mechanical characterizations (nanoshaving) of organic layers, measure their electrical conductivity by current-sensing AFM, and deduce work functions and surface photovoltage (SPV) effects by Kelvin force microscopy using high spatial resolution. These data are further correlated with local material composition detected using micro-Raman spectroscopy and with other electronic transport data. We demonstrate benefits of this multi-dimensional characterizations on (i) bulk heterojunction of fully organic composite films, indicating differences in blend quality and component segregation leading to local shunts of photovoltaic cell, and (ii) thin-film heterojunction of polypyrrole (PPy) electropolymerized on hydrogen-terminated diamond, indicating covalent bonding and transfer of charge carriers from PPy to diamond

Effective passivation of Si surfaces by plasma deposited SiOx/a-SiNx:H stacks

Very low surface recombination velocities 800 degrees C. (C)2011 American Institute of Physics