Thickness dependence of space-charge-limited current in spatially disordered organic semiconductors

Abstract

Charge transport properties in organic semiconductors are determined by two kinds of microscopic disorders, namely energetic disorder related to the distribution of localized states and the spatial disorder related to the morphological features of the material. From a semi-classical picture, the charge transport properties are crucially determined by both the carrier mobility and the electrostatic field distribution in the material. Although the effect of disorders on carrier mobility has been widely studied, how electrostatic field distribution is distorted by the presence of disorders and its effect on charge transport remain unanswered. In this paper, we present a modified space-charge-limited current (SCLC) model for spatially disordered organic semiconductors based on the fractional-dimensional electrostatic framework. We show that the thickness dependence of SCLC is related to the spatial disorder in organic semiconductors. For trap-free transport, the SCLC exhibits a modified thickness scaling of $J\propto L^{-3α}$, where the fractional-dimension parameter $α$ accounts for the spatial disorder in organic semiconductors. The trap-limited and field-dependent mobility are also shown to obey an $α$-dependent thickness scaling. The modified SCLC model shows a good agreement with several experiments on spatially disordered organic semiconductors. By applying this model to the experimental data, the standard charge transport parameters can be deduced with better accuracy than by using existing models.