Aj. Lovinger et al., DIRECT IMAGING OF CONDUCTING AND INSULATING SUBMOLECULARLY WIDE PATHWAYS IN AN ORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR, Chemistry of materials, 10(11), 1998, pp. 3275
Organic and polymeric semiconductors are promising new materials for t
hin-film transistor devices. The supramolecular conductive pathways in
one such material, alpha,omega-dihexyl-alpha-hexathiophene, have now
been imaged with submolecular resolution. The dark regions in the tran
smission electron micrograph are spaced 3.6 nn apart and consist of st
acked conductive hexathiophene molecular cores through which charges f
low. The bright regions correspond to the insulating dihexyl molecular
tails. Thus, the network of interconnected dark regions delineates th
e submolecularly wide ''rivers'' of electronic charge in this organic
semiconductor.