Orders-of-magnitude reduction of the contact resistance in short-channel hot embossed organic thin film transistors by oxidative treatment of Au-electrodes

In this study we report on the optimization of the contact resistance by surface treatment in short-channel bottom-contact OTFTs based on pentacene as semiconductor and SiO2 as gate dielectric. The devices have been fabricated by means of nanoimprint lithography with channel lengths in the range of 0.3 mu m < L < 3.0 pm. In order to reduce the contact resistance the Au source- and drain-contacts were subjected to a special UV/ozone treatment, which induced the formation of a thin AuOx layer. It turned out, that the treatment is very effective (i) in decreasing the hole-injection barrier between An and pentacene and (ii) in improving the morphology of pentacene on top of the Au contacts and thus reducing the access resistance of carriers to the channel. Contact resistance values as low as 80 Omega cm were achieved for gate voltages well above the threshold. In devices with untreated contacts, the charge carrier mobility shows a power-law dependence on the channel length, which is closely related to the contact resistance and to the grain-size of the pentacene crystallites. Devices with UV/ozone treated contacts of very low resistance, however, exhibit a charge carrier mobility in the range of 0.3 cm(2) V-1 s(-1) < 0.4 cm(2) V-1 s(-1) independent of the channel length.