Probing the metal/conducting polymer interface and implications of the metal diffusion in two-terminal sandwich devices

Abstract

In this article, we have investigated the role of polymer regio-regularity and film fabrication technique in reducing metal diffusion from top electrodes in sandwich type devices. Poly(3-hexyl thiophene)(P3HT) polymer of varying regio-regularity was chosen for investigation and its corresponding thin films were fabricated by spin-coating(SC) and floating film transfer method(FTM). Sandwich devices with a top interface between gold and i) FTM coated regio-regular (rr) P3HT, ii) FTM coated non-regiocontrolled (nr) P3HT, iii) SC nr-P3HT and iv) SC rr-P3HT were fabricated. The current density vs voltage (J-V) characteristics of the devices revealed non-ohmic characteristics. Estimation of interfacial hole barrier heights using Fowler Nordheim tunneling model revealed a small barrier of 1.12 eV for the isotropic spin-coated nr-P3HT film which increased to 1.37 eV with an increase in film anisotropy for the FTM nr-P3HT film. The barrier height also gradually declined from 1.37 eV to 1.05 eV with increase in regioregularity from FTM nr-P3HT to FTM rr-P3HT. These observations were confirmed through optical and structural characterizations along with depth profiling of metal diffusion using XPS. Pronounced Au diffusion to a higher depth was observed in the XPS results for the highly anisotropic FTM film that decreased subsequently with decrease in anisotropy from FTM to spin-coated film. It was thus deduced that a judicious selection of fabrication technique and polymer aids in reducing metal diffusion leading to improved device performance. The results hold crucial significance towards the fabrication of efficient organic photodetectors that have a sandwich type device architecture. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.