Charge transport in poly(p-phenylene vinylene) at low temperature and high electric field

• Published in: Organic electronics Vol. 14; no. 6; pp. 1591 - 1596
• Main Authors: Katsouras, I., Najafi, A., Asadi, K., Kronemeijer, A.J., Oostra, A.J., Koster, L.J.A., de Leeuw, D.M., Blom, P.W.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-06-2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Charge transport; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Electronic transport in multilayers, nanoscale materials and structures; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Field enhancement; Hopping distance; Mobility; Molecular electronics, nanoelectronics; Molecular junction; Optoelectronic devices; Organic electronics; Physics; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Transistors; Hopping distance; Mobility; Charge transport; Field enhancement; Molecular junction; Organic electronics; Phenylenevinylene polymer; Alkoxyl; Charge carrier density; Polymer; Phenylenevinylene derivative polymer; Light emitting diode; Transport process; Field effect transistor; Energy gap; Molecular electronics; Electric field; Optoelectronic device; High field; Numerical simulation; Electric field effect; Low temperature
• ISSN: 1566-1199; 1878-5530
• DOI: 10.1016/j.orgel.2013.03.025

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•We characterize charge transport in MEH-PPV hole-only diodes over an unprecedented range of electric field and temperature.•The data set presented can be used as a benchmark to verify any theoretical charge transport model.•We show that commonly used models describe the data well only in the field range that is conventionally used in experiments.•We disentangle the effects of carrier density and electric field on the charge carrier mobility.•Within a simple approximation we extract the hopping length directly from the experimental data at high fields.
Charge transport in poly(2-methoxy, 5-(2′-ethyl-hexyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene) (MEH-PPV)-based hole-only diodes is investigated at high electric fields and low temperatures using a novel diode architecture. Charge carrier densities that are in the range of those in a field-effect transistor are achieved, bridging the gap in the mobility versus charge carrier density plot between polymer-based light-emitting diodes and field-effect transistors. The extended field range that is accessed allows us to discuss the applicability of current theoretical models of charge transport, using numerical simulations. Finally, within a simple approximation, we extract the hopping length for holes in MEH-PPV directly from the experimental data at high fields, and we derive a value of 1.0±0.1nm.