Electronic Properties of Organic Semi-conductors

The workshop aims at bringing together researchers with a strong interest in the intrinsic electronic properties of organic semiconductors. A main focus will be on the transport properties of high-quality crystals measured by means of different techniques (field effect transistors, space charge limited current spectroscopy, time of flight measurements, etc.). Other topics of interest (e.g. optical and electron spectroscopy), providing insight in the microscopic physics of organic semiconductors will be discussed as well.

Specific attention will be devoted to the experimental aspects and techniques, including crystal growth, and all aspects of sample preparation and characterization, particularly critical in this field. We intend to make a distinction between high-quality materials and the materials normally used in organic electronic applications since the latter are only of limited use in the study of the fundamental physics of these materials, owing to the presence of chemical and structural defects.

The participation of a number of selected theorists will clarify the present theoretical status in the field and address open issues for future research.

We believe that, also because of the confusion originated from the well-known case of scientific misconduct that has occurred at the Lucent laboratories, a workshop focussed on the intrinsic electronic properties of organic semiconductors is now particularly timely. There exist a number of groups actively involved in the study of the transport properties of high-quality single crystals of organic molecules and interesting results are starting to appear.

Many physical and technical issues should now be addressed. These include:

·         the nature of the interaction between charge carriers and lattice vibrations (are polarons being formed?) and its dependence on carrier density.

·         the role of electron-electron interaction at low and high density (high temperature Wigner crystallization, Mott-Hubbard like correlations, etc.)

·         a realistic assessment of the possibilities offered by electrostatic doping (which charge densities can be achieved? what are the best dielectric materials? what technical problems can be envisaged?).

Bringing together key researchers in the field will help to clarify the present situation and to establish a community where information can be exchanged effectively, results analyzed in detail and future prospects discussed openly. Although organic semiconductors have been studied for a long time, work on high-purity materials is mainly starting now. For these reasons the field has a large potential for future research and it is worth to stimulate work in this area.