Team fabricates first all-organic transistor
MICHAEL FREEMANTLE · Chemical & Engineering News · 1994
Scientists in France have developed an important type of transistor using only organic polymers that may open the way to low-cost, large-area, flexible plastic electronic devices. The new transistor—technically, a field-effect transistor—has a high current output and is insensitive to mechanical treatments such as bending or twisting [ Science, 265, 1684 (1994)]. It was developed by a team of researchers at the Laboratoire des Matériaux Moléculaires, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Thiais, France: Francis Gamier, lab research director; Ryad Hajlaoui, a graduate student; Abderrahim Yassar, a research assistant; and Pratima Srivastava, a postdoctoral fellow. The organic semiconducting layer of the transistor is a highly structured thin film of the oligomer α,ω-dihexylsexithiophene. The material was synthesized by Srivastava from sexithiophene, an oligomer with six thiophene units. Two hexyl groups at the end of the molecule bring self-assembly properties to the molecule, Garnier notes. "Molecular engineering of this oligomer led us to develop organic semiconductors that self-organize ...