Liquid Crystal-Gated-Organic Field-Effect Transistors with In-Plane Drain–Source–Gate Electrode Structure

We report planar liquid crystal-gated-organic field-effect transistors (LC-g-OFETs) with a simple in-plane drain-source-gate electrode structure, which can be cost-effectively prepared by typical photolithography/etching processes. The LC-g-OFET devices were fabricated by forming the LC layer (4-cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl, 5CB) on top of the channel layer (poly(3-hexylthiophene), P3HT) that was spin-coated on the patterned indium-tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrates. The LC-g-OFET devices showed p-type transistor characteristics, while a current saturation behavior in the output curves was achieved for the 50-150 nm-thick P3HT (channel) layers. A prospective on/off ratio (>1 × 10(3)) was obtained regardless of the P3HT thickness, whereas the resulting hole mobility (0.5-1.1 cm(2)/(V s)) at a linear regime was dependent on the P3HT thickness. The tilted ordering of 5CB at the LC-P3HT interfaces, which is induced by the gate electric field, has been proposed as a core point of working mechanism for the present LC-g-OFETs.