Lecture, Master Program Organic Electronics

Since the partially accidental discovery of high electrical conductivity in doped polyacetylene (published in 1977, ), Organic Electronics developed into an interdisciplinary field connecting to physics, chemistry, electrical engineering, and more recently even biology and medicine. The common denominator in all these activities, be it fundamental studies or practical device development, are π-conjugated, carbon-based materials. Over the years, the community has learned that to really understand the optoelectronic properties of these materials, one cannot simply transfer concepts from inorganic materials; instead formalisms that take into account the unique physical properties of the active molecular materials are needed.

The goals of this lecture are:

• to give fundamental understanding of the key concepts underlying the optoelectronic properties of organic (semi)conductors
• to give understanding of the working mechanism of typical organic electronic devices
• to make this understanding both qualitative and quantitative
• to illustrate introduced concepts with results of current research, and to introduce some of the commonly employed electrical and optical measurement tools
• to connect to (inorganic) solid state physics, thermodynamics, semiconductor physics etc.

Organization:
The course consists of two parts. The first part are weekly lectures (2 hrs/week), the second part is an optional tutorial (2 hrs/week) during which the participants actively work with the concepts that are introduced in the lectures and consists of assignments, numerical experiments or the analysis and interpretation of real experimental data. The answers are to be handed in by the end of the teaching period.

Examination is oral. For those that did not participate in the tutorials, the examination is about the material covered in the lectures and gives 2 ECTS. For those that handed in the tutorial answers, the exam is a discussion thereof and gives 4 ECTS.

The course is held yearly in the summer semester. Further information on dates, times and locations can be found in the heiCO system. Interested students should register via the heiCO system.

Required knowledge:
The course is intended for master students and assumes the student has a basic operational understanding of quantum mechanics, solid state physics and matrix algebra.

Topics:

• Quantum chemistry of π-conjugated materials: 
  • energy levels, wave functions
  • band gap formation
  • excitations: polarons, excitons
  • role of spin
  • charge transfer reactions
• Microscopic charge & energy transport 
  • disorder, localization, hopping
  • percolation
  • Gaussian disorder models
  • thermoelectricity
• Macroscopic charge transport 
  • drift-diffusion & Poisson equations
  • space charge limited transport
  • doping
  • charge injection
  • trapping, recombination, light emission
• Device physics 
  • light emitting diodes
  • solar cells
  • thermogenerators
  • field effect transistors
  • biosensors
• Miscellaneous topics
  • single molecule devices
  • transport in single crystals

Since I continuously update these lectures, this list is subject to change. For any further information please contact Martijn Kemerink