Low-voltage operation of organic thin-film transistors based on ultrafine printed silver electrodes

We report the low-voltage operation of organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) based on high-resolution printed source/drain electrodes that are produced by a surface photoreactive nanometal printing (SuPR-NaP) technique. We utilized an ultrathin layer of perfluoropolymer, Cytop, that functions not only as a gate dielectric layer in the OTFTs but also as a base layer for producing a patterned reactive surface for silver nanoparticle chemisorption in the SuPR-NaP technique. We successfully demonstrate 2 V operation with negligible hysteresis in the polycrystalline pentacene OTFT with a gate dielectric thickness of 22 nm, and we achieved current amplification by the printed electrodes modified with pentafluorobenzenethiol. The SuPR-NaP technique enables the production of high-resolution printed silver electrodes required for high-performance OTFTs, which have potential practical electronic device applications.