COMPETENCE CENTER SYNTHESIS
Control of interfaces by self-assembled monolayers
Within the competence center synthesis, methods and materials will be investigated to modify the interfaces that are encountered in organic electronic devices. These interfaces play a critical (decisive?) role for the performance of the final device. Especially the interface between semiconducting material to the (gate-)dielectric in organic field effect transistors and the interface of electrode materials with (semi-)conducting organic materials are of prime importance. Self-assembled monolayers have proven to be a valuable concept to control structure, homogeneity and electronic properties at these interfaces by intelligent molecular design.
Novel acceptor materials
For a number of organic electronic devices, electron-transporting organic materials are required. On top of the performance indicators for hole-transporting materials, stability towards air and moisture are important for this class of semiconductors. The competence center synthesis will investigate novel acceptor materials in terms of their stability, morphology and phase forming behavior (e.g. phase separation from a blend with donor materials) in close contact with the competence centers simulation and morphology. These investigations aim at materials for electron-transporting layers for OLEDs, n-channel thin-film transistors and acceptor part in organic solar cells.
Switchable solublilty
Organic electronic devices are often multi-layer stacks. To process several of these layers out of solvents of comparable polarity, be it by a printing or a coating process, semiconducting materials will be modified to influence the solubility of the compounds after film formation by an external stimulus. At best, a space-resolved stimulus will be able to directly texture the film. An important constraint of this approach is the compatibility of the stimulus with the substrate, the semiconductor and the processing conditions.
