Influence of solvent additives on the morphology and electrical properties of diF-TES ADT organic field-effect transistors

Solution processing of organic semiconductors offers key advantages, including low-cost and compatibility with large-area flexible substrates. Controlling film crystallization from solution, however, is not trivial. This is particularly important since the device properties are highly dependent on the film microstructure, which, in turn, can vary significantly with processing. In this work, we tuned the small molecule organic semiconductor film microstructure by using a binary solvent consisting of a host solvent and a high-boiling point solvent additive and studied the effect of additive content on charge transport. Spin coated 2,8-difluoro-5,11-bis(triethylsilylethynyl)anthradithiophene films processed from a mixture of chlorobenzene and dichlorobenzene, in various ratios, were investigated by using Polarized Optical Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy analysis and their electrical properties were evaluated from bottom-contact bottom-gate organic field-effect transistors. We found that the mobility increased by three times for a 8% dichlorobenzene content as a result of reducing the density of the grain boundaries within the device channel.