Correlating Crystal Thickness, Surface Morphology, and Charge Transport in Pristine and Doped Rubrene Single Crystals

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Jae Joon Kim - , University of Massachusetts (Author)
  • Stefan Bachevillier - , Université de Bordeaux (Author)
  • D. Leonardo Gonzalez Arellano - , University of Massachusetts (Author)
  • Benjamin P. Cherniawski - , University of Massachusetts (Author)
  • Edmund K. Burnett - , University of Massachusetts (Author)
  • Natalie Stingelin - , Georgia Institute of Technology, Université de Bordeaux (Author)
  • Cédric Ayela - , Université de Bordeaux (Author)
  • Özlem Usluer - , University of Massachusetts, Necmettin Erbakan University (Author)
  • Stefan C.B. Mannsfeld - , Chair of Organic Devices (cfaed) (Author)
  • Guillaume Wantz - , Université de Bordeaux (Author)
  • Alejandro L. Briseno - , University of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania State University (Author)

Abstract

The relationship between charge transport and surface morphology is investigated by utilizing rubrene single crystals of varying thicknesses. In the case of pristine crystals, the surface conductivities decrease exponentially as the crystal thickness increases until ∼4 μm, beyond which the surface conductivity saturates. Investigation of the surface morphology using optical and atomic force microscopy reveals that thicker crystals have a higher number of molecular steps, increasing the overall surface roughness compared with thin crystals. The density of molecular steps as a surface trap is further quantified with the subthreshold slope of rubrene air-gap transistors. This thickness-dependent surface conductivity is rationalized by a shift from in-plane to out-of-plane transport governed by surface roughness. The surface transport is disrupted by roughening of the crystal surface and becomes limited by the slower vertical crystallographic axis on molecular step edges. Separately, we investigate surface-doping of rubrene crystals by using fluoroalkyltrichrolosilane and observe a different mechanism for charge transport which is independent of surface roughness. This work demonstrates that the correlation between crystal thickness, surface morphology, and charge transport must be taken into account when measuring organic single crystals. Considering the fact that these molecular steps are universally observed on organic/inorganic and single/polycrystals, we believe that our findings can be widely applied to improve charge transport understanding.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)26745-26751
Number of pages7
JournalACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Volume10
Issue number31
Publication statusPublished - 8 Aug 2018
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 29999309

Keywords

Research priority areas of TU Dresden

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • air-gap transistors, molecular steps, rubrene single crystal, surface charge traps, surface-doping