On the correlation of postannealing induced phase transition in pentacene with carrier transport

Postannealing effects on pentacene thin film transistors (TFTs) are discussed correlating the pentacene film morphology, the crystalline polymorph, and the electronic transport. The bulk phase thermally induced in pentacene during postannealing treatment is found to be another main cause detrimental to the carrier transport of TFTs. In addition, it turns out that encapsulation of the TFTs using polyvinyl alcohol helps to improve the thermal stability by retarding the onset of the bulk phase in pentacene. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.