Influence of the gate leakage current on the stability of organic single-crystal field-effect transistors

We investigate the effect of a small leakage current through the gate insulator on the stability of organic single-crystal field-effect transistors sFETsd. We find that, irrespective of the specific organic molecule and dielectric used, leakage current flowing through the gate insulator results in an irreversible degradation of the single-crystal FET performance. This degradation occurs even when the leakage current is several orders of magnitude smaller than the source-drain current. The experimental data indicate that a stable operation requires the leakage current to be smaller than 10−9 A/cm2. Our results also suggest that gate leakage currents may determine the lifetime of thin-film transistors used in applications. © 2005 American Institute of Physics. fDOI: 10.1063/1.1852089g