A Bright Future Ahead for Organic Field-Effect Transistors

Over the past 25 years, research on organic field-effect transistors has largely contributed to the scientific understanding of the core charge transport physics of conjugated polymer as well as small-molecule organic semiconductors. The research has actually been more focused on potential applications of the OFETs in advanced display technology, optical communication systems, electrically pumped organic lasers, and solid-state lighting.

Besides having numerous potential applications, OFETs have also attracted much attention due to advantages such as low cost, light weight, flexibility, and large-area fabrication.

What are Organic Field-Effect Transistors?

Organic field-effect transistors (OFETS) are special kind of field-effect transistors that use organic semiconductors in their channels.

The first field-effect transistors were first designed and prepared in 1960 using a metal-oxide semiconductor. The rising cost of materials, manufacturing, and public interest in adopting more environmentally friendly materials prompted the development of organic-based electronics in the past few years.

The design of OFETs has greatly improved over the past years as most are now being designed based on thin-film transistor model which allow these devices to use less conductive materials in their design. Other significant improvements have been made on these devices to greatly enhance their functionality.

Is the Future Bright for Organic Field-Effect Transistors?

Because practical transistors require low threshold voltage, high mobility, large on/off ratio, and high stability, the development of organic field-effect transistors has been found to be an important key to achieving these parameters. Actually, experts have discovered that a new class of electro-optical devices, the organic light-emitting field-effect transistors, could provide an innovative setup that will address pressing questions regarding charge-carrier recombination and light emission in organic materials.

Well, with these incredible devices having potential applications in advanced display technology, optical communication systems, electrically pumped organic lasers, and solid-state lighting, the future is certainly bright for OFETs.

Recent demonstrations of the organic field-effect transistors have actually found that their performance greatly exceeds that of amorphous silicon-based devices. This is a clear indication that OFETs could potentially overtake amorphous silicon-based devices in the near future.

Experts are still looking for ways to optimize OFETs characteristic in hope to develop high-performance devices for broad practical applications. They are further exploring the possibility of performance regarding the device material engineering, physics, printing technology, and processing procedures. With the considerable progress being made, we could actually see a rise of high-performance OFETs in just a few years.