UC Santa Cruz

A variety of factors make semiconducting polymers a fascinating alternative for both device development and new areas of fundamental research. Among these are solution processability, low cost, flexibility, and the strong dependence of conduction on the presence of charge compensating ions. With the lack of a complete fundamental understanding of the materials, and the growing demand for novel solutions to semiconductor device design, research in the field can take many, often multifaceted, routes.

Due to ion-mediated conduction and versatility of fabrication, conducting polymers can provide a route to the study of neural signaling. In the first of three research topics presented, junctions of polypyrrole electropolymenzed on microelectrode arrays are demonstrated. Indi vidual junctions, when synthesized in a three-electrode configuration, exhibit current switching behavior analogous to neural weighting. Junctions copolymerized with thiophene exhibit current rectification and the nonlinear current-voltage behavior requisite for complex neural systems. Applications to larger networks, and eventual use in analysis of signaling, are discussed.

In the second research topic, nonvolatile resistive memory consisting of gold nanoparticles embedded in a polymer film is examined using admittance spectroscopy. The frequency dependence of the devices indicates space-charge-limited transport in the high-conductivity "on" state, and similar transport in the lower-conductivity "off' state. Furthermore, a larger do capacitance of the on state indicates that a greater amount of filling of midgap trap levels introduced by the nanoparticles increases conductivity, leading to the memory effect. Implications on the question as to whether or not the on state is the result of percolation pathways is discussed.

The third and final research topic is a presentation of enhanced efficiency of polymer light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) by means of forming a doping self-assembled monolayer (SAM) at the cathode-polymer interface. The addition of the SAM causes a twofold increase in quantum efficiency. Photovoltaic analysis indicates that the SAM increases both open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current. Current versus voltage data are presented which indicate that the SAM does not simply introduce an interfacial dipole layer, but rather provides a fixed doping region, and thus a more stable p-i-n structure.