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104504-2 Fadlallah et al. J. Appl. Phys. 99, 104504 共2006兲
= K3N␥−1 , 共2兲
where K1, K3, and ␥ are constants and N is the carrier num-
ber.
In order to further analyze the TFT result, the general
equation incorporates dependence of the mobility on accep-
tor concentrations, such as that of VRH, rather than bandlike
mechanism. Assuming that every carrier in the bulk repre-
sents a hole in the channel, the effective mobility eff may
thus be expressed as Eq. 共3兲 assuming m = 共␥ − 1兲,
FIG. 1. Layout and cross section of the organic thin film transistor 共OTFT兲.
eff = K3 p␥−1 = K3 pm , 共3兲
II. MODEL STRUCTURE where p = N. The drain current density J resulting from elec-
trical field application is expressed with Eq. 共4兲,
The work done here is based on the cross section and the
layout of the OTFT. The model equations were also based on J = pqeffx , 共4兲
the dc and ac characteristics of the device.
The layout and the cross section of the OTFT used are Where p is the carrier concentration, q is the electron charge,
shown in Fig. 1. As seen, the transistor structure uses a mul- and x is the applied field between the source and drain con-
tifinger type, where x represents the direction parallel to the tact.
current flow. Using Gauss’s law and substituting for J = I共Wdz兲 and
The basic topology of the transistor is top gate-bottom x = dVx / dx and integrating both sides, the current equation
contacts where the transistor length is located between the then becomes
冕 冕
source and the drain contacts. The transistor model repre-
senting this cross section is shown in Fig. 2.
L
K 3W C02m+1 VD
I dx = ± 共VG − Vx兲2m+1dVx ,
Rs and Rd are, respectively, the source and the drain con- 0 共2m + 1兲 共20 pkT兲m 0
tact resistances; Cgs and Cgd are, respectively, the gate to
共5兲
source and the gate to drain capacitors; and Id is the drain
current expressing the carriers flowing between source and where C0 is the dielectric capacitor C0 = d / Td, d is the di-
drain for the different operating regimes of the transistor. electric permittivity, Td is the thickness of the dielectric, W is
the channel width, p is the permittivity of the organic semi-
conductor, 0 is the permittivity of free space, VG is the gate
III. DC MODEL IN THE DIFFERENT OPERATING voltage, and m is a mobility model parameter. Therefore, the
REGIMES general equation for the drain to source current in the linear
regime is expressed with Eq. 共6兲,
A. Linear regime
Unlike complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor K3 W C02m+1
Id,lin = ± 兵共Vgs − VT兲2m+2
共CMOS兲 standard technology, OTFT is only a drift mecha- 共2m + 1兲共2m + 2兲 L 共20 pkT兲m
nism where the subthreshold regime and linear regime are
− 关共Vgs − VT兲 − Vd兴2m+2其, 共6兲
driven with a unique mechanism and then can be modeled
using a single equation. The equation obtained depends on where VT is the threshold voltage, Vgs is the gate to source
the universal mobility law 共UML兲.16 In the variable range voltage Vgs = VG − Vs, Vs is the source voltage, Vd is the drain
hopping 共VRH兲 model,15,16 the conductivity and thus the mo- voltage, and k and T are, respectively, Boltzmann’s constant
bility of the charge carriers increase with doping as given by and the temperature.
the empirical Eqs. 共1兲 and 共2兲, Equation 共6兲 of the current does not seem to have a
= K 1N ␥ 共1兲 direct dependence on the carrier concentration p. Neverthe-
less, when m = 0 共i.e., the device is unsaturated兲, Eq. 共6兲 is
and similar to the standard conventional MOSFET equation with
K3 = and thus
Id = K3
W
L
冋
C0 共Vgs − VT兲Vd −
V d2
2
. 册 共7兲
B. Saturation regime
Based on the previous calculation, the current equation
FIG. 2. Basic model of the OTFT. in the saturation regime 共Vgs − VT ⬍ Vds兲 is given by
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104504-3 Fadlallah et al. J. Appl. Phys. 99, 104504 共2006兲
Id,sat = 冋 K3 W C02m+1
共2m + 1兲共2m + 2兲 L 共20 pkT兲m
共Vgs − VT兲2m+2 册 threshold voltage of the device. The total charge on the gate
electrode Qg at any gate and drain voltages may be obtained
from
冕
⫻关1 + 共Vd − Vgs + VT兲兴, 共8兲 L
where is the conductance parameter and Vds is the drain to Qg = − W C0共VGT − Vx兲dx, 共9兲
0
source voltage.
where 共VGT = Vg − VT , VT = VFB兲 and C0 is the dielectric ca-
pacitance per unit area. In the last step of the calculation in
IV. TRANSIENT MODEL 共6兲, this integral can be evaluated explicitly using the drain
current equation 共5兲 to relate dx to dVx and the result is given
Some of the important low frequency circuit parameters
in 共10兲,
can also be obtained from the drain current Eq. 共6兲. For ex-
ample, to calculate the drain and source capacitances, the C0WL共2m + 2兲共VGT − Vd兲2m+3 − 共VGT − Vs兲2m+3
Qg = ,
expression C = d共Q兲 / d共V兲 can be used.15,17,18 Assuming that 共2m + 3兲关共VGT − Vd兲2m+2 − 共VGT − Vs兲2m+2兴
the polymer TFT is an accumulation mode transistor and all
共10兲
of the current is due to drift and not diffusion, then the
threshold voltage is defined as the gate voltage that results in Where L is the channel length.
an accumulation channel, i.e., the flat band voltage VFB is the The gate to source capacitance is thus
Cgs = 冏 冏Qg
Vgs
Vd =
共2m + 3兲
冋
− C0共2m + 2兲Vgst2m+1WL 共2m + 2兲Vgdt2m+3 − 共2m + 3兲Vgdt2m+2Vgst + Vgst2m+3
共Vgdt2m+2 − Vgst2m+2兲2
, 册 共11兲
Cgd = 冏 冏Qg
Vgd
Vgs =
共2m + 3兲
冋
− C0共2m + 2兲Vgdt2m+1WL 共2m + 2兲Vgst2m+3 − 共2m + 3兲Vgst2m+2Vgdt + Vgdt2m+3
共Vgdt2m+2 − Vgst2m+2兲2
. 册 共12兲
These equations depend on the operating regime. It is Electrical characterization is started using I-V and C-V
also seen from the transistor layout and cross section that the characteristics with transistors having W = 10 mm and differ-
overlapping capacitors are important in this case since the ent channel lengths.
gate electrode covers the entire source and drain fingers. The developed model contains only 12 parameters
Just like drain current equations, the capacitor model 共Table I兲. Most of these parameters are physical depending
obeys the off, linear, and saturation regimes.18 In that sense, on the device structure and layout.
Cgs and Cgd depend on the polarizations applied to the struc-
ture added to the overlapping capacitance 关Eq. 共13兲兴, A. Extraction of the drain current factor in the off
regime I00
Cgs = CgsovW + Cgsoff,linear,saturation ,
As we have seen in Fig. 3, the current in off regime, i.e.,
Cgd = CgdovW + Cgdoff,linear,saturation , 共13兲 Vgst ⬎ 0, is nearly independent of gate potential. At the same
where Cgsov and Cgdov are the overlapping capacitance of TABLE I. Parameters list and signification.
source and drain, respectively.
Lchannel Length of the channel
Wfinger Width of the channel formed of one finger
V. MODEL PARAMETER EXTRACTION Nbfinger Number of fingers or “channel” 共interdigitated
source-drain technology兲
Before starting the development of the OTFT model, full TOX Gate insulator thickness
studies in terms of electrical and technological characteriza- VT Device threshold voltage
tion are required. m Mobility parameter
Two primary sets of measurements are required for the K3 Mobility parameter
I00 Off regime drain current factor
characterization of the organic transistor: the transfer charac-
RWS Source contact resistance
teristics 共Id vs Vgs兲 that allow the effective mobility 共兲 and
RWD Drain contact resistance
threshold voltage 共VT兲 to be determined and the output char- CT Capacitor factor
acteristics 共Id vs Vds兲 that provide saturation and general elec- Conductance parameter
trical performance information.
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104504-4 Fadlallah et al. J. Appl. Phys. 99, 104504 共2006兲
FIG. 5. Typical curve Log关d共Id兲 / d共Vgs兲兴 plotted against log共Vgs兲 for the
FIG. 3. Drain current Id against gate voltage Vgs for different drain voltages Id-Vgs characteristics.
Vds.
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104504-5 Fadlallah et al. J. Appl. Phys. 99, 104504 共2006兲
FIG. 8. Measurement and simulation characteristics of transistors in different dc operation regimes with two transistors sizes: 共a兲 OTFT with
W / L = 10 mm/ 20 m and 共b兲 OTFT with W / L = 10 mm/ 10 m. Solid lines are measurements, while crossed lines represent simulation characteristics.
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104504-6 Fadlallah et al. J. Appl. Phys. 99, 104504 共2006兲
FIG. 10. Topology of the p-type OTFT inverter. FIG. 12. Topology of the simulated ring oscillator.
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104504-7 Fadlallah et al. J. Appl. Phys. 99, 104504 共2006兲
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to thank B. Eccleston from the University
of Liverpool for endless help with modeling activities. Fur-
thermore, we thank D. Barclay from Plastic Logic Limited
FIG. 13. Simulations of an OTFT ring oscillator. for providing OTFT’s measurement as well as for valuable
discussions. This work has been supported by the European
B. Simulation of a ring oscillator PolyApply project funded under the 6th EU-Framework Pro-
This step of validation was the simulation of a ring os- gramme No. 507143.
cillator. Figure 12 shows the topology of the circuit made of 1
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