Organic Semiconductors

Organic Semiconductors

An organic semiconductor is an organic material with semiconductor properties. Single molecules, short chain (oligomers) and organic polymers can be semiconductive. Semiconducting small molecules (aromatic hydrocarbons) include the polycyclic aromatic compounds pentacene, anthracene, and rubrene. Polymeric organic semiconductors include poly(3-hexylthiophene), poly(p-phenylene vinylene), as well as polyacetylene and its derivatives.

There are two major overlapping classes of organic semiconductors. These are organic charge-transfer complexes and various linear-backbone conductive polymers derived from polyacetylene. Linear backbone organic semiconductors include polyacetylene itself and its derivatives polypyrrole, and polyaniline. At least locally, charge-transfer complexes often exhibit similar conduction mechanisms to inorganic semiconductors. Such mechanisms arise from the presence of hole and electron conduction layers separated by a band gap. While such classic mechanisms are important locally, as with inorganic amorphous semiconductors, tunnelling, localized states, mobility gaps, and phonon-assisted hopping also significantly contribute to conduction, particularly in polyacetylenes. Like inorganic semiconductors, organic semiconductors can be doped. Organic semiconductors susceptible to doping such as polyaniline (Ormecon) and PEDOT:PSS are also known as organic metals.

Typical current carriers in organic semiconductors are holes and electrons in π-bonds. Almost all organic solids are insulators. But when their constituent molecules have π-conjugate systems, electrons can move via π-electron cloud overlaps, especially by hopping, tunnelling and related mechanisms. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and phthalocyanine salt crystals are examples of this type of organic semiconductor.

Mainly due to low mobility, even unpaired electrons may be stable in charge-transfer complexes. Such unpaired electrons can function as current carriers. This type of semiconductor is also obtained by pairing an electron donor molecule with an electron acceptor molecule.