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Nanoscale organic and polymeric field-effect transistors as chemical sensors

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Abstract

This article reviews recently published work concerning improved understanding of, and advancements in, organic and polymer semiconductor vapor-phase chemical sensing. Thin-film transistor sensors ranging in size from hundreds of microns down to a few nanometers are discussed, with comparisons made of sensing responses recorded at these different channel-length scales. The vapor-sensing behavior of nanoscale organic transistors is different from that of large-scale devices, because electrical transport in a nanoscale organic thin-film transistor depends on its morphological structure and interface properties (for example injection barrier) which could be modulated by delivery of analyte. Materials used in nanoscale devices, for example nanoparticles, nanotubes, and nanowires, are also briefly summarized in an attempt to introduce other relevant nano-transducers.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr Zhenan Bao (Stanford University, formerly Lucent) for providing some of the polythiophene and Professor Heinz von Seggern (Technical University of Darmstadt), Mr Taeho Jung, Mr Suvid Nadkarni, and Mr Debarshi Basu for helpful discussions. The authors would also like to thank NSF NIRT, DARPA, AFOSR, and Sematech AMRC for their financial support. Finally, we would like to thank the CNM and the TMI at the University of Texas at Austin for use of their facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Microelectronics Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78758, USA

    Liang Wang, Daniel Fine, Deepak Sharma & Ananth Dodabalapur

  2. Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Bari, 4 via Orabona, 70126, Bari, Italy

    Luisa Torsi

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  1. Liang Wang
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  2. Daniel Fine
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  3. Deepak Sharma
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Correspondence to Ananth Dodabalapur.

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Wang, L., Fine, D., Sharma, D. et al. Nanoscale organic and polymeric field-effect transistors as chemical sensors. Anal Bioanal Chem 384, 310–321 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-005-0150-2

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