Vibrational Sum Frequency Generation Spectroscopy of Organic Semiconducting Thin Film Interfaces

Abstract

This Dissertation is a compilation of my work done at the University of Minnesota in pursuit of a Ph.D. in Chemistry. The main theme is the use of vibrational sum frequency generation, an interface specific spectroscopic technique, to answer fundamentally interesting questions in the field of organic electronics, specifically the dielectric/semiconductor interface. This interface is of major importance in the function of organic field effect transistors. Chapters 1 and 2 will provide the relevant background on organic electronics and vibrational sum frequency generation, respectively. Chapter 3 is an explanation of the laser setup used to make the measurements. Chapter 4 explores the use of new modeling techniques to answer fundamental questions pertaining to the dielectric/organic interface under gate bias. Chapter 5 is the development of a new technique to collect multiple VSFG experiments at once. Finally, Chapter 6 uses techniques in both chapters 4 and 5 to examine how the organic semiconductor arranges itself on different gate dielectrics.