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| organic semiconductors | |
|---|---|
| Name | Organic semiconductors |
| Type | Electronic materials |
| First reported | 1950s–1970s |
| Applications | Optoelectronics, sensors, photovoltaics |
organic semiconductors are a class of carbon-based materials that exhibit semiconducting behavior and are used in devices such as light-emitting diodes, transistors, and photovoltaic cells. They bridge chemistry and device engineering, linking molecular design, synthesis, and processing to macroscopic function. Research spans academic institutions, industrial laboratories, and technology companies, producing interdisciplinary collaborations across physics, chemistry, and materials science.
The field emerged through contributions from laboratories associated with University of Cambridge, Bell Labs, IBM Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of Oxford, and has been shaped by figures tied to Nobel Prize in Chemistry achievements and industrial milestones at Sony Corporation, Epson, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Sharp Corporation, and Samsung Electronics. Early experimental landmarks resonated with work at Bell Telephone Laboratories, University of California, Santa Barbara, Stanford University, Max Planck Society, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Tohoku University. Major conferences at Materials Research Society, American Chemical Society, Gordon Research Conferences, and European Materials Research Society fostered dissemination alongside journals such as Nature, Science, Advanced Materials, Journal of the American Chemical Society, and Physical Review Letters.
Molecular families central to the field include small molecules related to work at Kodak, DuPont, BASF, and Sumitomo Chemical and conducting polymers developed by groups at University of Hamburg, University of Cambridge, and University of Tokyo. Representative scaffolds trace to chemistries explored by researchers connected to Nippon Shokubai, Mitsubishi Chemical, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, and academic groups at University of California, Berkeley, ETH Zurich, Columbia University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Imperial College London. Key motifs—such as derivatives synthesized under protocols from Royal Society of Chemistry-linked laboratories—include conjugated backbones like oligothiophenes, poly(p-phenylene vinylene), and acenes, with side-chain engineering strategies studied in teams at University of Pennsylvania and University of Minnesota. Supramolecular assembly and crystalline order have been examined in collaborations with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Charge transport paradigms were elaborated by theorists and experimentalists affiliated with Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, California Institute of Technology, and Tokyo Institute of Technology. Models referencing hopping, band-like transport, and polaron formation were advanced in work associated with International Centre for Theoretical Physics, CERN, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Spectroscopic probes from teams at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, and Diamond Light Source elucidated density of states, mobility, and trap states, paralleling electrical characterization methods developed at Texas Instruments, Intel, Micron Technology, and AMD. Thermal, optical, and magnetic effects tied to carrier dynamics were studied in projects linking National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Forschungszentrum Jülich, KIST (Korea Institute of Science and Technology), and RIKEN.
Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) saw commercialization involving Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Apple Inc., Sony Corporation, and Panasonic Corporation, while organic photovoltaics were pursued by startups and centers at Oxford Photovoltaics, Heliatek, First Solar, SunPower Corporation, and SolarCity. Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) underpin flexible circuits developed in partnerships including Flex Ltd., Jabil, Foxconn, HP Inc., and Lenovo. Sensing platforms and bioelectronic interfaces have been advanced with collaborations involving Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, Roche, Philips Healthcare, and academic medical centers like Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins University. Emerging uses in smart textiles and displays tie to work at Nike, Inc., Adidas, H&M, and Zara (Inditex).
Processing routes such as vacuum thermal evaporation, roll-to-roll printing, inkjet printing, and spin coating were developed across industrial R&D centers at 3M, DuPont, Canon Inc., Epson, Heidelberg Druckmaschinen, and research groups at University of Cambridge, KAUST (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology), Seoul National University, and National University of Singapore. Lithography, patterning, and encapsulation methods have been adapted from practices at ASML Holding, Lam Research, Applied Materials, and Tokyo Electron Limited, while encapsulation studies leveraged facilities at Corning Incorporated, Nippon Electric Glass, and Owens Corning. Process scale-up drew on expertise from General Electric, Boeing, Siemens, and Thales Group.
Degradation mechanisms—photo-oxidation, hydrolysis, morphological evolution, and electrode diffusion—were investigated by teams at DuPont de Nemours, Inc., BASF SE, Sumitomo Chemical, Mitsui Chemicals, Sasol, and research centers including Fraunhofer Society, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, and CSIRO. Standardization and lifetime testing protocols involved input from International Electrotechnical Commission, ISO (International Organization for Standardization), IEC 62471, and consortia at European Commission-funded projects and national agencies such as DARPA, EPSRC, DFG (German Research Foundation), ANR (France), and JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science).
Current trends bring together computational design using resources at Google DeepMind, IBM Watson, Microsoft Research, NVIDIA Corporation, and high-throughput experimentation frameworks developed in partnerships with SRI International, XPRIZE, CNRS, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Integration with quantum materials efforts at Perimeter Institute, Institute for Advanced Study, and Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics hints at hybrid systems coupling organics with graphene research from University of Manchester, Chalmers University of Technology, and Columbia University. Translational pathways involve venture-backed startups, consortiums involving Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, and public–private initiatives linked to European Investment Bank, National Science Foundation, and Horizon Europe to scale sustainable manufacturing, recycling, and circular-economy approaches promoted by Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Category:Semiconductor materials