Effect of measuring environment on the electrical characteristics of NiPc based thin film transistors: The effects of ozone

Electrical characteristics of Organic Thin Film Transistors (OTFT) are found to be sensitive to ambient atmosphere. The electrical properties of Metal-Phthalocyanines (M-Pc) are affected upon exposure to an atmosphere containing oxidizing molecules like oxygen, nitrogen oxides or ozone. This phenomenon finds application in the use of OTFT based on nickel-phthalocyanine (NiPc) as gas sensors. In this work, tests of ozone detecting were carried out exhibiting a high sensitivity to ozone. The observed changes in the electrical characteristics, when the OTFT is exposed to an ambient atmosphere, are discussed in terms of ozone doping process. Our results show that NiPc-based OTFTs can represent a new class of ozone sensors.