Charge Focusing and Enhanced Fermi-Level Modulation in Hybrid Graphene Nanospike Organic Thin-Film Transistors

The advantages of graphene nanospike electrodes as source and drain contacts in short channel length organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) are described. The contact resistance and transfer length are significantly reduced, and the on-current increased in bottom-contact organic TFTs with channel lengths in the 200–500 nm range. These improvements are attributed to a work function modulation in the patterned graphene that leads to favorable outcomes for organic TFT operation. This hybrid device architecture offers a new way to scale down the channel length of organic and polymer TFTs while mitigating contact-related limitations.