Charge Transport and Optical Effects in Disordered Organic Semiconductors

Kwok, Harry L.; Wu, You-LIn; Sun, Tai-Ping

doi:10.1117/3.832717.ch17

Book: Tutorials in Complex Photonic Media

Editor(s): Mikhail A. Noginov; Graeme Dewar; Martin W. McCall; Nikolay I. Zheludev

Author(s): Harry Kwok, You-LIn Wu, Tai-Ping Sun

Published: 2009

https://doi.org/10.1117/3.832717.ch17

Abstract

Charge transport in disordered organic semiconductors is receiving a great deal of attention because, as with inorganic semiconductors, conductivity in organic semiconductors can be changed through doping. In addition, a few disordered organic semiconductors also have "high" carrier mobilities. The discovery of these organic semiconductors marks a major change in the research outlook for these semiconductors, since they have the potential of replacing more expensive single-crystal semiconductors in devices. Organic materials possess other advantages as well. A few organic semiconductors have already been used in industrial applications, such as the production of light-emitting devices (LEDs), transistor circuits built on flexible substrates, and a variety of thin-film sensors and solar cells. In all of these applications, cleverly devised structures were adopted while, in many cases, advantages in manufacturing and cost effectiveness remained to be exploited. Indeed, some electronic display devices based on disordered organic semiconductors have already been successfully marketed in products such as cell phones and television screens. This chapter focuses on the study of charge transport and the optical properties of disordered organic semiconductors.