In this study, we examine the electrical properties of diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) containing polymer semiconductors that have been reported to show high performance with ambipolar characteristics. We prepared three different DPP based polymer semiconductors (PDPPTPT, PDPP3T, and PDPP2T-TT) and fabricated organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) with ambipolar polymer semiconductors as an active layer. All three DPP polymers showed only p-type properties at initial measurements. However, after annealing in vacuum oven for 24 hours, it was found that the DPP based polymers have both p-type and n-type properties. It is speculated that the residual impurities supposedly regarded as a strong electron trap source were eliminated during the vacuum process.

We demonstrate the utilization of ion gel gate dielectrics for operating non-volatile transistor memory devices based on polymer semiconductor thin films. The gating process in typical electrolyte-gated polymer transistors occurs upon the penetration and escape of ionic components into the active channel layer, which dopes and dedopes the polymer film, respectively. Therefore, by controlling doping and dedoping processes, electrical current signals through the polymer film can be memorized and erased over a period of time, which constitutes the transistor-type memory devices. It was found that increasing the thickness of polymer films can enhance the memory performance of device including (i) the current signal ratio between its memorized state and erased state and (ii) the retention time of the signal.