Metal-conjugated polymer interfaces

The purpose of performing calculations of physical properties parallel to experimental studies is twofold. First, since calculations by necessity involve approximations, the results have to be compared with experimental data in order to test the validity of these approximations. If the comparison turns out to be favourable, the second step in the evaluation of the theoretical data is to make predictions of physical properties that are inaccessible to experimental investigations. This second step can result in new understanding of material properties and make it possible to tune these properties for specific purposes. In the context of this book, theoretical calculations are aimed at understanding of the basic interfacial chemistry of metal-conjugated polymer interfaces. This understanding should be related to structural properties such as stability of the interface and adhesion of the metallic overlayer to the polymer surface. Problems related to the electronic properties of the interface are also addressed. Such properties include, for instance, the formation of localized interfacial states, charge transfer between the metal and the polymer, and electron mobility across the interface. 

The aim of this chapter is to present a simple but general band structure picture of the metal-semiconductor interface and compare that with the characteristics of the metal-conjugated polymer interface. The discussion is focused on the polymer light emitting diode (LED) for which the metal-polymer contacts play a central role in the performance of the device. The metal-polymer interface also applies to other polymer electronic devices that have been fabricated, e.g., the thin-film field-effect transistor3, but the role of the metal-polymer interface is much less cruical in this case and... 

Theoretical Studies of Metal/Conjugated Polymer Interfaces Aluminum and Calcium Interacting with 7i-Conjugated Systems... 

C. Fredriksson and J. L. Bredas, Metal/conjugated polymer interfaces a theoretical investigation of the interaction between aluminum and trans-polyacetylene oligomers, J. Chem. Phys. 98 4253 (1993). 

J. L. Bredas, W. R. Salaneck and G. Wegner (Eds), Organic Materials for Electronics Conjugated Polymer Interfaces with Metals and Semiconductors (North Holland, Amsterdam, 1994). 

P. Dannetun, M. Fahlman, C. Fauquet, K. Kaerijama, Y. Sonoda, R. Lazzaroni, J. L. Bredas and W. R. Salaneck, in Organic Materials for Electronics Conjugated Polymer Interfaces with Metals and Semiconductors, J. L. Br6das, W. R. Salaneck and G. Wegner (Eds) (North Holland, Amsterdam, 1994), p. 113. 

It is perhaps obvious that the nature of the interface between a molecular solid (polymer) and a (clean) metal surface is not necessarily equivalent to the interface formed when a metal is vapor-deposited (essentially atom-by-atom ) on to the (clean) surface of the polymer or molecular solid. Atoms of all metals are active in the form of individual atoms , even gold atoms. In the context of the new polymer LEDs, some of the works discussed in chapter 7 involve the study of the early stages of formation of the interface in the latter configuration (metal-on-polymer interfaces). Very little has been reported on conjugated polymer-on-metal interfaces, however, primarily because of the difficulties in preparing monolayers of polymer materials on well defined metal substrates appropriate for study (via PES or any other surface sensitive spectroscopy). The issues discussed below are based upon information accumulated over two decades of involvement with the surfaces of condensed molecular solids and conjugated polymers in ultra-thin form, represented by the examples in the previous chapter. 

Another problem that is common for all membrane-based solid-state sensors is the ill-defined membrane-metal interface. A large exchange current density is required to produce a reversible interface for a stable potentiometric sensor response. One approach to improving this interface is to use conducting polymers. Conducting polymers are electroactive n-conjugated polymers with mixed ionic and electronic conductivity. They... 

Here we survey a series of possible surface-sensitive measurements which in principle can be used to study the surfaces of conjugated polymers and the early stages of metal interface formation. We then motivate the use of photoelectron spectroscopy. 

First, satellite structure on the high binding energy side of, for example, an XPS core-level line (or peak ) corresponds to so-called shake-up (referred to below as s.u. ) and shake-ofF2S-29 effects, the former of which is illustrated, by M+, in Fig. 3.1. Shake-off is just shake-up to the continuum rather than to an unoccupied molecular state. Considerations of (1) are important in comparisons with the results of model calculations while (2) is of use as an indication of the electronic transitions in the molecules under study, an example of which is found in studies of the early stages of interface formation, i.e., the interactions of reactive metal atoms with conjugated polymer surfaces. Since use will be made of these effects in subsequent chapters, they are outlined briefly below. 

---