Investigation on the Conduction Mechanisms in Metal-Base Vertical Organic Transistors by DC and LF-Noise Measurements

Vertical organic transistors are a promising candidate to overcome the scaling limits of conventional horizontal organic field-effect devices. In this paper, based on the results of direct current (dc) and low-frequency noise (LFN) measurements, we propose a picture for the carrier transport in metal-base organic transistors in which transmission across the base is due to the combined action of both hot-carriers (HCs) and high-conduction paths (pores) in the metal base. Investigated devices employ pentacene and copper phthalocyanine as active layers for the emitter and collector regions, and a bilayer consisting of Au/MoO
₃
as injecting electrode. The dc analysis highlights that the charge transport in the investigated devices is due to drift diffusion of the emitter-injected carriers in the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) band and is dominated by HC injection, although conduction via pores increases and becomes not negligible at high base-emitter fields. The LFN analysis highlights the presence of two dominant and uncorrelated 1/f current noise sources, one located between base and emitter, due to the fluctuations of the not-transmitted HC current, and a second source located between collector and emitter, due to the fluctuations of the transmitted HC current and/or to the fluctuations of the current through the pores in the metallic base.