Structural Nanoprobes of Organic Semiconductor Devices

有机半导体是一种令人兴奋的新型材料，它将传统上只与无机材料相关的电子性能与聚合物（塑料）和小有机分子的机械性能和可加工性结合在一起。特别是，通过溶液处理处理有源半导体层的能力导致了基于有机发光二极管的显示器的商业化。有机晶体管和有机太阳能电池也显示出了商业潜力，这两种技术都具有低成本的加工优势，并且能够集成到灵活的架构中。然而，由于有机半导体是一类相对较新的材料，仍然存在许多影响器件性能的关键工艺的基本问题。例如，有机半导体薄膜的有序度通常低于无机薄膜，而且畴结构、分子取向和分子排列对电荷输运的影响尚未完全了解。此外，对于有机太阳能电池，通常将两种不同的材料混合在一起形成有效的电荷分离和传输网络，材料混合对电荷分离和传输的影响仍在研究中。由于有机半导体与无机半导体相比具有截然不同的特性，因此需要开发和应用新技术来探测这类新材料的特性。该研究项目将采用最先进的显微镜，并利用先进的x射线分析技术，以前所未有的精度和清晰度探测有机器件的结构和器件作用。这种对设备操作的进一步理解将允许识别限制设备性能的物理过程，从而促进未来的设备优化。

Organic semiconductors are an exciting new class of material that combine the electronic properties traditionally only associated with inorganic materials, with the mechanical properties and processibility of polymers (plastics) and small organic molecules. In particular, the ability to process active semiconductor layers through solution processing has led to the commercialisation of organic light-emitting diode-based displays. Commercial potential has also been demonstrated by organic transistors and organic solar cells, where both technologies have the advantage of low-cost processing and the ability to be incorporated into flexible architectures.However, as organic semiconductors are a relatively new class of material, there are still many fundamental questions governing key processes that affect device performance. For example, organic semiconductor films are typically less ordered than their inorganic counterparts and the influence of domain structure, molecular orientation and molecular alignment on charge transport is not fully understood. Additionally, for organic solar cells, where typically two different materials are blended together to form efficient networks for charge separation and transport, the influence of material mixing on charge separation and transport are still being discovered.Since organic semiconductors have vastly different properties compared to inorganic semiconductors, the development and application of new techniques to probe the properties of this new class of material is required. This research programme will adapt state-of-the-art microscopes and utilize advanced X-ray analytical techniques to probe structure and device action in organic devices with unprecedented precision and clarity. This further understanding of device operation will allow for the identification of physical processes that limit device performance and hence promote future device optimisation.