Alignment of organic semiconductors in a thermal gradient

In order to validate these results, we embarked on an exploratory study of the crystallization of a set of organic semiconductors, carefully selected based on rational arguments, to evaluate the potential of the thermal gradient process as well as the required parameters for an OSC to perform adequately in this treatment. As in the case of terthiophene, nucleation and growth can be decoupled for the other organic semiconductors depending on their rate of growth. Furthermore, we have been able to reproduce on another polymorphic compound the selective growth of a single polymorphic form by applying adequate gradient conditions. We have also observed that compounds tend to orient preferentially along one of their major morphological planes parallel to the substrate, indicating a heterogeneous nucleation mechanism. A careful comparison between the different samples allowed us to confirm and complete our growth mechanism proposition. Based on the undercooling, maximal growth rate, primary and secondary nucleation rates of the compound, geometry of the system and adequate gradient parameters, a preferential alignment of the crystals along the thermal gradient direction can be achieved. Finally, we showed through this investigation and careful comparison that 2,7-didodecyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophene possesses all the characteristics to be an excellent material candidate for the thermal gradient processing: low primary nucleation rate, moderate undercooling, high growth rate, platelet-like crystal growth morphology and liquid crystal phase allowing preorganization of the compound before crystallization and processing on single substrates without dewetting. Moreover, this compound is currently one of the best solution processable organic semiconductors.

We then investigated the directional crystallization of 2,7-dioctyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophene directly from its liquid crystal phase as a function of thermal gradient parameters (magnitude of the gradient, sample velocity) and film thicknesses in thin film geometry (spin-coated films). Again, decoupling of the nucleation and growth has been observed for crystallization processed directly from the liquid crystal phase leading to the generation of highly textured films presenting uniaxial in-plane alignments of the crystallites. Moreover, secondary nucleation spots highlighted by POM in the alignment region give a clue to elucidate the alignment mechanism. The unit cell orients with the reciprocal vector c* normal to the substrate. Moreover, POM observation tends to indicate systematic thermal cracks orientations for higher rates of displacement (25 μm.s-1) as well as a reduction of the number of domains present in the sample, suggesting a preferential alignment of the crystallites at higher rates of displacement. All our results indicate that an optimum of the quality of the aligned film is reached for thermal gradient conditions of 120 °C - 90 °C - 25 μm.s-1.