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Organic transistors that use polyelectrolytes as gate insulators can be driven at very low voltages (<1 V). The low operating voltage is possible thanks to the formation of electric double layers upon polarization, which generates large electric fields at the critical interfaces in the device structure. In this work, we use a semiconducting blend (of a high electron affinity polymer and a low ionization potential one) in conjunction with a solid polyelectrolyte insulator to fabricate low-voltage ambipolar organic transistors. For both n- and p-channel operation, we use a polycation with readily mobile-yet large enough to limit bulk doping of the semiconductor-counterions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complementary circuits, processing digital signals, are a cornerstone of modern electronics. Such circuits require both p- and n-type transistors. Polyelectrolytes are used as gate insulators in organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) to establish an electric double layer capacitor upon gate bias that allows low operational voltages (<1 V). However, stable and low-voltage operating n-channel organic transistors have proven difficult to construct. Here, we report ultra-low voltage n-channel organic polymer-based transistors that are stable in ambient atmosphere. Our n-type OTFTs exhibit on/off ratios around 103 for an applied drain potential as low as 0.1 V. Since small ions are known to promote electrochemical reactions within the semiconductor's channel bulk and typically slow down the transistor, we use a solid polycationic gate insulator that suppresses penetration of anions into the n-channel semiconductor. As a result, our n-channel OTFTs switch on in under 5 ms and off in less than 1 ms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]