Nature 335, 137 - 141 (08 September 1988); doi:10.1038/335137a0

New semiconductor device physics in polymer diodes and transistors

J. H. Burroughes, C. A. Jones & R. H. Friend

Cavendish Laboratory, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK

Semiconductor devices have been made from polyacetylene, a conjugated polymeric semiconductor. The device operates in a novel way: charge is stored in localized soliton-like excitations of the polymer chain, which are introduced not by doping or photoexcitation but by the presence of a surface electric field. The formation of charged solitons changes the optical properties of the polymer, introducing optical absorption below the band gap. Combined with the processibility of the polymer, these new electro-optic effects may be exploited technologically in electro-optic modulators.

References

1.	Handbook on Conducting Polymers (ed. Skotheim, T. J.) (Dekker, New York, 1986).
2.	Basescu, N. et al. Nature 327, 403−405 (1987). | Article | ChemPort |
3.	Grant, P. M., Tani, T., Gill, W. D., Krounbi, M. & Clarke, T. C. J. appl. Phys. 52, 869−873 (1980).
4.	Kanicki, J. in Handbook on Conducting Polymers (ed. Skotheim, T. J.) 544−660 (Dekker, New York, 1986).
5.	Garnier, F. & Horowitz, G. Synthetic Metals 18, 693−698 (1987). | Article | ChemPort |
6.	Tomozawa, H., Braun, D., Phillips, S., Heeger, A. J. & Kroemer, H. Synthetic Metals 22, 63−69 (1987). | Article | ChemPort |
7.	Ebisawa, E., Kurokawa, T. & Nara, S. J. appl. Phys. 54, 3255−3260 (1983). | Article |
8.	Koezuka, H., Tsumura, A. & Ando, T. Synthetic Metals 18, 699−704 (1987). | Article | ChemPort |
9.	Edwards, J. H. & Feast, W. J. Polymer Commun. 21, 595−597 (1980). | ChemPort |
10.	Friend, R. H. et al. Trans. R. Soc. A314, 37−49 (1985).
11.	Friend, R. H. et al. Synthetic Metals 13, 101−112 (1986). | Article | ChemPort |
12.	Bott, D. C. et al. Synthetic Metals 14, 245−269 (1986). | Article | ChemPort |
13.	Friend, R. H., Bradley, D. D. C., Townsend, P. D. & Bott, D. C. Synthetic Metals 17, 267−272 (1987). | Article | ChemPort |
14.	Friend, R. H., Bradley, D. D. C. & Townsend, P. D. J. Phys. D20, 1367−1384 (1987). | ChemPort |
15.	Friend, R. H., Schaffer, H. E., Heeger, A. J. & Bott, D. C. J. Phys. C20, 6013−6023 (1987). | ChemPort |
16.	Su, W. P., Schrieffer, J. R. & Heeger, A. J. Phys. Rev. Lett. 42, 1698−1701 (1979); B22, 2099−2111 (1980); erratum, B28, 1138 (1983).
17.	Rice, M. J. Phys. Lett. 71A, 152−154 (1979). | ChemPort |
18.	Orenstein, J. in Handbook on Conducting Polymers (ed. Skotheim, T. J.) 1297 (Dekker, New York, 1986).
19.	Sze, S. M. Physics of Semiconductor Devices, 2nd edn (Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1981).
20.	Rhoderick, E. M. Metal-Semiconductor Contacts (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1978).
21.	Ando, T., Fowler A. B. & Stern, F. Rev. mod. Phys. 54, 437−672 (1982). | Article | ISI | ChemPort |
22.	Horovitz, B. Solid St. Commun. 41, 729−734 (1982). | Article | ChemPort |