Capacitance-voltage characterization of pulsed plasma polymerized allylamine dielectrics for flexible polymeric field effect transistors

Polyallylamine films, deposited on Si wafers by radio frequency (RF) pulsed plasma polymerization (PPP), were employed as insulating layers of metalinsulator-semiconductor (MIS) capacitors. The insulating polymer films were deposited at plasma reactor temperatures of 25°C and 100°C. Multiple frequency capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements indicated that an in-situ heat treatment during film deposition increased the insulator dielectric constant. The dielectric constant, calculated from the C-V data, rose from 3.03 for samples with no heat treatment to 3.55 for samples with an in-situ heat treatment. For both sample sets, the I-V data demonstrates a low leakage current value (<20 fA) up to 100 V. Capacitance-time (C-t) measurements were also used to characterize the mobile ions in the polymer that migrate over time with applied voltage. Results indicate that the polymer layers contain few electrically active defect centers and virtually no pinholes. Hysteresis in the C-V curves with differing sweep directions was more pronounced for in-situ heat-treated samples indicative of mobile charge.