Unexpected Benefits of Contact Resistance in 3D Organic Complementary Inverters

Abstract

Contact resistance has long been a major problem in organic transistors. The potential advantages of having such a resistance in novel organic field-effect complementary inverters are demonstrated by means of finite-element simulation. A systematic introduction of the charge-injection barrier leads to a remarkable enhancement in the voltage transfer curve. Quantitatively, the maximum gain increases from 8.9 to 50 by increasing the barrier from 0 to 0.5 eV, at a dielectric thickness of 600 nm and a supply voltage of 5 V. This observation is elucidated by the fundamental transistor parameters and by the carrier distribution inside the semiconductors. These results suggest that the established paradigm of device engineering may have to be reconsidered when designing specific circuit applications.