Separation in the Roles of Carrier Transport and Light Emission in Light-Emitting Organic Transistors with a Bilayer Configuration

To develop high-performance organic light-emitting organic field-effect transistors (LE-OFETs), a fundamental problem in organic semiconductors is to compromise light luminescent efficiency for high carrier mobility and vice versa. Therefore, LE-OFETs can avoid this problem by separating the light-emission and carrier-transport functions. Here, a bilayer LE-OFET composed of a tetracene crystal as a carrier transporter (bottom crystal) and a 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-methyl-6-(p-dimethylaminostyryl)-4H-pyran (DCM1)-doped tetracene crystal as a light emitter (top crystal) was fabricated. Red light-emission color, which is distinct from the green emission color of tetracene, was detected in the top crystal. Light emission from the top layer was prohibited when an insulating thin film was inserted between the two crystals. These observations indicate that excitons are formed in the bottom crystal and transferred to the top crystal, emitting reddish light. Bilayer LE-OFETs have the advantage of providing both high current density and a bright emission for high-performance light-emitting FETs.