Effects of Processing-Induced Contamination on Organic Electronic Devices

Organic semiconductors are a family of pi-conjugated compounds used in many applications, such as displays, bioelectronics, and thermoelectrics. However, their susceptibility to processing-induced contamination is not well understood. Here, it is shown that many organic electronic devices reported so far may have been unintentionally contaminated, thus affecting their performance, water uptake, and thin film properties. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy is used to detect and quantify contaminants originating from the glovebox atmosphere and common laboratory consumables used during device fabrication. Importantly, this in-depth understanding of the sources of contamination allows the establishment of clean fabrication protocols, and the fabrication of organic field effect transistors (OFETs) with improved performance and stability. This study highlights the role of unintentional contaminants in organic electronic devices, and demonstrates that certain stringent processing conditions need to be met to avoid scientific misinterpretation, ensure device reproducibility, and facilitate performance stability. The experimental procedures and conditions used herein are typical of those used by many groups in the field of solution-processed organic semiconductors. Therefore, the insights gained into the effects of contamination are likely to be broadly applicable to studies, not just of OFETs, but also of other devices based on these materials.