International Conference on Organic Electronics ICOE 2008
The idea of arranging an annual conference on Organic Electronics evolved from Liverpool’s position as leader of work package 6, responsible for roadmapping organic electronics as well as training and dissemination, in the FP6 project Polyapply.
There were, and are, other conferences associated with organic and molecular electronics, which mainly have delegates from management and business. However, there was a recognisable need for a more fundamental meeting for scientifically active engineers, physicists at the postdoc and more senior levels, as well as those undertaking PhDs in the field, which was the objective of the International Conference on Organic Electronics.
The ICOE Conference is now in its fifth year and has been held in the conference facilities at the Philips labs in Eindhoven. It was coupled with workshops, which were held free of charge, and 15 speakers, mainly covering fundamentals from photovoltaics to electronic circuit design, have participated.
The ICOE Conference 2008
The 2008 meeting was, as usual, held in the middle of June and occupied 3 full days with invited talks from Neil Greenham from Cambridge University on photovoltaics. This subject acquires increasing levels of interest with time. There are problems with stability and efficiency but much of the understanding of photovoltaics in organic semiconductors has come from the Cambridge Physics group.
Ananth Dodabalapur is one of the fathers of the organic transistor technology, now at the University of Texas but previously with the start-up Organic IC and Bell Laboratories. He emphasised the need to understand trapping effects in determining device stability and circuit speed. Both of these are among the most crucial items in roadmapping the field. Sony presented an exciting talk on their new technology, and Savas Tay, a postdoc from the University of Arizona, described the use of organic materials in holography.
Several trends were noted from the abstracts submitted to the conference and the subsequent presentations. One was the increased interest in soluble versions of pentacene such as 'TIPS'’. They have the advantage of more mobile carriers whilst being compatible with printing. It also became apparent that these films have irregular surfaces which, if not addressed, will have limitations in terms of reduction in channel length and maintaining the yield of interconnect in real circuits.
A disappointment was the lack of strong papers on circuit design. There is an increased realisation that new circuit design concepts may be the best way of overcoming some of the problems imposed by the materials.
These include the spread of parameters which is closely linked to the presence of trace amounts of air in the semiconductor. It also emphasises the need for a concentrated effort on ways of preventing the diffusion of air into the films.
The workshop was planned asan interactive session and focussed on the difficulties of modelling organic devices for particular application with circuits. Although much progress has been made using Monte Carlo methods, there is a need for the kind of equations that facilitate the computer aided design of larger circuits.
The next ICOE will go on the road and i t will continue to be organised by the Liverpool Group. In 2009 it will be held at Liverpool and in 2010 it moves on to Paris. A new web-site for the event is nearing completion. In addition, we would be interested in any organisation that would wish to be host in 2011 and for consideration by the Programme Committee.
For further information on this event, please contact Prof. Bill Eccleston.