Microelectronic Engineering 86 (2009) 2312–2315

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Microelectronic Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mee

Numerical simulation of spin coated P3HT organic thin film transistors

with field dependent mobility and distributed contact resistance
Abdul Khaliq a,*, Feng Liang Xue a, Kody Varahramyan b
a
Institute for Micromanufacturing, Louisiana Tech University, 911 Hergot Avenue, P.O. Box 10137, Ruston, LA 71272, USA
b
Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 755 West Michigan Street, UL 1140 Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: P3HT thin film transistors (TFT) have been fabricated using inkjet printing technique. The present work
Received 27 June 2008 aims at the systematic study of the impact of distributed contact resistance including field dependent
Received in revised form 7 March 2009 mobility. The coupled analysis is not yet explored for polymer organic thin film transistors. Numerical
Accepted 10 April 2009
simulations are performed to study the coupled influence of field mobility and distributed contact resis-
Available online 19 April 2009
tance on the FET device behavior. Considering the influence of field mobility and distributed contact
resistance, simulated results are consistent with our experimental results.
Keywords:
Published by Elsevier B.V.
Polymer transistor
Distributed contact resistance
Numerical modeling

1. Introduction 2. Device fabrication

Organic microelectronics and optoelectronics have a rapid
development due to the attractive properties and applications of
organic materials. P3HT is among popular organic materials
investigated [1,2]. Numerical solutions are used to study the
physics of organic devices, such as the effects of traps [3–6], field
dependent mobility models [7,8], device structures (bottom con-
tact and top contact) [8,9], channel length [10], electrode contact
[11], etc.
The impact of distributed resistance on the performance of the
TFT has not been explored yet in conjunction with the field depen-
dence mobility. In this paper, we report a two-dimensional simula-
tion of electrical characteristics of P3HT TFTs. The objective of the
work is to study the coupled influence of field mobility, and dis-
tributed contact resistance on P3HT thin film transistors. The field
dependent mobility and contact resistance models are incorpo-
rated in a numerical simulator for analysis. The technology com-
puter-aided design (TCAD) tool Taurus-device (SynopsysÒ) is
employed to implement the simulation of the device characteris-
tics. A field dependent mobility model is implemented in the
numerical simulator via the Taurus PMEI (physical model equation
interface) to include user defined mobility models. The simulation
results agree well with the experimental results.
Several devices were fabricated on heavily n-doped silicon,
which also works as the gate electrode. A layer of 1000 Å thick
silicon oxide was thermally grown for the gate insulator. Then
source and drain (S/D) electrodes were deposited. After that,
50 nm poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) was spin coated as a chan-
nel material to form transistors as shown in Fig. 1. In this work,
two types of contacting techniques were used. One is for long
channel (20 lm) using conducting polymer PEDOT-PSS as the
electrode material. The other is for short channel (5 lm) using
gold as the electrode material. We have found that by modifying
the commercial PEDOT-PSS, its contact resistance with P3HT is
significantly lower than that of gold with P3HT. An n+-Si substrate
with thermally grown 100 nm silicon oxide was used as the sub-
strate. PEDOT-PSS was printed as the source and drain (S/D) elec-
trodes. The gold S/D contact electrodes were formed by
lithography and lift-off processes. Finally, The PEDOT-PSS used
was modified to be highly conductive as compared to the com-
mercial one [12]. The channel lengths are 20 lm and 5 lm for de-
vices with PEDOT-PSS and gold contacts, respectively. In both of
the devices, n+-Si serves as gate electrode. The devices were char-
acterized on Keithley 236 source measure units at room temper-
ature in air.

3. Measured device characteristics

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 318 257 4483; fax: +1 318 257 5104. The schematic of the P3HT TFT at room temperature are shown
E-mail address: khaliq@latech.edu (A. Khaliq). in Fig. 1. The on/off current ratio is measured above 103. Field effect

0167-9317/$ - see front matter Published by Elsevier B.V.

doi:10.1016/j.mee.2009.04.009
 A. Khaliq et al. / Microelectronic Engineering 86 (2009) 2312–2315
Fig. 1. Schematic structure of the fabricated P3HT TFTs. Lg is 20 lm and 5 lm for
the long and short channel devices, respectively.
mobility is calculated based on the following equation in satura-
tion regime:
wC i
Ids ¼ lðV gs  V th Þ2 ð1Þ
2L
where Ids is the drain saturation current, l is the mobility, Vth is the
threshold voltage, and Ci stands for capacitance per cm2 of gate
oxide, w and L are the channel width and channel length, respec-
tively, and Vgs is the gate-to-source voltage. The mobility was deter-
mined to be 1.2  102 and 1.0  102 cm2/v s for P3HT transistors.
4. Model description
Numerous analytical, numerical and empirical models have
been investigated for organic semiconductors [6,13]. In the next
section, a numerical implementation of mobility and distributed
contact resistance is presented. Field dependent mobility models
are integrated with classical models in the software through a user
interface (the Taurus PMEI). This interaction allows a better insight
of the device behavior for variety of mobility and contact resistance
models. Models descriptions are presented in the subsequent
sections.
4.1. Field dependent mobility
Unlike traditional inorganic semiconductors, organic semicon-
ductors normally show the increase of carrier mobility with the in-
crease of electric field for a bulk polymer piece sandwiched
between two electrodes. The energy required for hopping from
one site to another is a distributed random variable, and the elec-
tric field shifts the level in the distribution for the next hole hop
[14]. The electric field dependence of mobility has been investi-
gated [15–19] due to its application for polymer device physics.
The application of the electric field (E) reduces the activation en-
ergy by an amount eEq between two molecules spaced apart a dis-
tance q.
This leads to the predicted electric field dependence of the
mobility:
l / exp ðeEq=kTÞ ð2Þ
The predicted field dependence on the mobility based on Eq. (2)
establishes [23]:
l / exp ðEn=nþ1 Þ ð3Þ
For n = 1
pffiffiffi
l / exp E ð4Þ
2313
This is similar to the Poole–Frenkel effect. The electron is ther-
mally emitted over the top of the potential barrier which is low-
ered by the electric field. The experimental observations of a
square root dependence of electric field were first reported by
Pai and Gill [20,21].
4.2. Distributed contact resistance
The effect of contact resistance in organic thin film transistors
has been studied [22–24]. The interface between contact and poly-
mer is rough, and it leads to device degradation. The impact of dis-
tributed contact resistance has not yet been investigated. For a
simple voltage boundary condition, a single potential is associated
with the entire electrode. Since the contact material has finite
resistivity, the electrostatic potential is not uniform at the metal-
organic interface. To account for this effect, a distributed contact
resistance can be utilized with any electrode in the simulation. A
resistance Ri is placed at each node linked with the contact of inter-
est. The value of each Ri is calculated from contact resistance
(in X-cm2) [25]:
Ri ¼ ðcon:resÞ=dc;i ð5Þ
where dc,i is the length of the contact associated with node i and
con.res is the contact resistance. An associated equation is added
for each electrode node, unlike the lumped element case where a
single equation is related to the whole electrode. So for every node
i that is part of the contact [25],
   
1 kT N  
V applied  wi  ln  In þ Ip þ Idisp i ¼ 0 ð6Þ
Ri q ni
where N is the doping concentration, ni is the intrinsic concentra-
tion, Vapplied is the voltage applied, wi is the electric potential, In is
the electron current, Ip is the hole current, Idisp is the displacement
current and Ri is given by Eq. (5). The super linear characteristic of
the short channel devices may be attributed to distributed contact
resistance. The distributed resistance depends on external voltage
as well, and therefore needs to be tuned up for each bias step.
5. Simulation
Numerical simulations were run with the 2D device simulator
Taurus-device (SynopsysÒ). The program solves simultaneously
the Poisson equation for the electrical potential and the continuity
equations for the hole and electron concentrations. The continuity
equations do not depend on the type of the transport mechanism
and are valid for hopping transport as well [26].
The applied field modulates the mobility of carriers as discussed
earlier. The field dependence mobility has been implemented in
the numerical solver, and the solver has a physical model equation
interface to include user defined mobility models. The imple-
mented mobility model based on Eq. (4) is given by:
pffiffiffi
l ¼ u0 exp ðA EÞ ð7Þ
Where u0 is the zero field mobility and, A is the fitting parameter.
The results with this model including distributed resistance were
consistent with our experimental results. The results are show in
Fig. 2. The transfer characteristics for long channel device are shown
in Fig. 3. Simulated and experimental results are matched well for
the long channel device using field dependent mobility model.
However, for the short channel device experimental and simu-
lated results are not in agreement. The reason may be the in-
creased contact effect at a short channel. The distributed contact
resistance is added to include this phenomenon. The output char-
acteristics for short channel device with and without distributed
resistance are shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The distributed resistance
2314 A. Khaliq et al. / Microelectronic Engineering 86 (2009) 2312–2315

Fig. 2. Simulation of output characteristics of long channel device with field Fig. 5. Simulation of output characteristics of short channel device with field
dependence mobility model. dependence mobility and contact resistance.

Table 1
Material properties used for numerical simulations.

Material property Value

Metal work function 5 eV
P3HT Electron Affinity 3.5 eV
P3HT Bandgap 1.7 eV
P3HT HOMO Level 5.2 eV
P3HT LUMO Level 3.5 eV
P3HT (Nv, Density of states) 2  1021 cm3
P3HT Permittivity 3.0

Fig. 3. Simulation of transfer characteristics of long channel device with fast

interface traps.

Fig. 6. Band diagram at organic semiconductor and metal before contact.

is optimized for each bias step. The simulated and measure results
are in good agreement. The band diagrams of metal and organic
semiconductor and material properties of metal contact and organ-
ic semiconductor are listed in Table 1 (see Fig. 6).

6. Summary and conclusions

The P3HT organic thin film transistors were fabricated using

Fig. 4. Simulation of output characteristics of short channel device with field
dependence mobility without contact resistance.
inkjet printing method and current voltage characteristics were
measured. The devices were characterized on Keithley 236 source
measure units at room temperature in air. A systematic study of
the impact of distributed contact resistance including field depen-
dent mobility was developed. A coupled analysis of these two
parameters was explored in depth. The model parameters were in-
cluded into a commercially available Synopsys TCAD tools. An
 A. Khaliq et al. / Microelectronic Engineering 86 (2009) 2312–2315
exhaustive literature search was done to find out the optimal
material properties to include in the simulator.
The field mobility model is developed through the ‘‘physical
model equation interface (PMEI)” provided by the Synopsys TCAD
package. This interface allowed custom models to be included into
the package which are more appropriate for the system under
study. The field mobility model expressed in Eq. (7) is incorporated
through the PMEI into the simulation software. The contact resis-
tance was enabled to evaluate its influence on the simulation.
A thorough review of the simulated behavior of devices with
channel lengths less than short channel showed increased depen-
dence on coupled field mobility and distributed contact resistance.
The simulated behavior of devices with channel lengths more than
long channel device showed negligible dependence on distributed
contact resistance but field based mobility still plays a major role.
The coupled effects of field dependent mobility and distributed
resistance to the device characteristics were demonstrated by
comparing with the experimental results. The experimental and
numerical results were in good agreement both for long and short
channel devices.
The presented numerical model (coupled field mobility and
contact resistance) was evaluated with devices which captured a
broad range of useful channel lengths such that the discussed
methodology may be applied to similar devices. This consolidates
our premise that field mobility and contact resistance are impor-
tant parameters to model the organic TFT’s accurately.
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