Temperature-dependent field-effect carrier mobility in organic thin-film transistors with a gate SiO2 dielectric modified by H2O2 treatment

The effect of the modification of a gate SiO2 dielectric using an H2O2 solution on the temperature-dependent behavior of carrier transport for pentacene-based organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) is studied. H2O2 treatment leads to the formation of Si(–OH)x (i.e., the formation of a hydroxylated layer) on the SiO2 surface that serves to reduce the SiO2 capacitance and weaken the pentacene–SiO2 interaction, thus increasing the field-effect carrier mobility (µ) in OTFTs. The temperature-dependent behavior of carrier transport is dominated by the multiple trapping model. Note that H2O2 treatment leads to a reduction in the activation energy. The increased value of µ is also attributed to the weakening of the interactions of the charge carriers with the SiO2 dielectric that serves to reduce the activation energy.