Rational design of organic semiconductors for texture control and self-patterning on halogenated surfaces

Understanding the interactions at interfaces between the materials constituting consecutive layers within organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) is vital for optimizing charge injection and transport, tuning thin-film microstructure, and designing new materials. Here, the influence of the interactions at the interface between a halogenated organic semiconductor (OSC) thin film and a halogenated self-assembled monolayer on the formation of the crystalline texture directly affecting the performance of OTFTs is explored. By correlating the results from microbeam grazing incidence wide angle X-ray scattering (μGIWAXS) measurements of structure and texture with OTFT characteristics, two or more interaction paths between the terminating atoms of the semiconductor and the halogenated surface are found to be vital to templating a highly ordered morphology in the first layer. These interactions are effective when the separating distance is lower than 2.5 d_w, where d_w represents the van der Waals distance. The ability to modulate charge carrier transport by several orders of magnitude by promoting "edge-on" versus "face-on" molecular orientation and crystallographic textures in OSCs is demonstrated. It is found that the "edge-on" self-assembly of molecules forms uniform, (001) lamellar-textured crystallites which promote high charge carrier mobility, and that charge transport suffers as the fraction of the "face-on" oriented crystallites increases. The role of interfacial halogenation in mediating texture formation and the self-patterning of organic semiconductor films, as well as the resulting effects on charge transport in organic thin-film transistors, are explored. The presence of two or more anchoring sites between a halogenated semiconductor and a halogenated self-assembled monolayer, closer than about twice the corresponding van der Waals distance, alter the microstructure and improve electrical properties.