Thin-film organic field effect transistors (OFETs) have attracted growing interest in recent years due to their promising electrical, optical and mechanical properties. Especially, oligothiophenes and their derivates are candidates with good prospects for application as the organic semiconducting material in such devices. They possess an extended, polarisable aromatic π-electron system that promotes a high structural arrangement of the molecules. The charge transport in the organic film is realised in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the thiophene rings via a hopping transport mechanism. Thus, a good π-π-overlap and a consequent stacking of the thiophene molecules in the film perpendicular to the gate substrate is essential to achieve excellent electric properties such as high charge carrier mobilities and low resistive losses. The highly polarisable thiophene-based molecules are also very attractive materials that are potentially applicable as the field-sensitive organic semiconducting component of a ferroelectric OFET device. In such a device, the dielectric gate element of a conventional OFET setup is substituted by a ferroelectric substrate. The electric field that is induced by the polarisation of the ferroelectric material serves as gate field and controlls the charge injection and charge density inside the device. In this thesis, thiophene-based molecules are investigated in detail with respect to their application as field-sensitive organic semiconducting component in a ferroelectric OFET device employing quantum-chemical ab initio and DFT-based methods. We demonstrate that the phosphonic acids can bind the organic molecules to the dielectric or ferroelectric material and well-anchored, robust self-assembled monolayers are formed. Furthermore, special focus is put on the influence of the intermolecular interactions among the organic molecules on the technologically relevant structural and electronic properties. It is found that the CN···HC hydrogen bond link the molecules into extended ribbons, but the π-π-stacking-stacking interaction is the main driving force in the self-assembly of the molecules. We also establish in detail the influence of the electric field on the phosphonic acid anchoring molecule and some quarterthiophene derivates. For the latter, the strongest field-sensitivity is obtained for an external electric field aligned parallel to the extension of the thiophene framework. Hence, they are suitable to act as the field-sensitive organic components in devices that take advantage of a band-gap engineering. Moreover, the present results emphasise the importance of the adsorption morphology of the molecules in the film in a π-stacked fashion with their longitudinal axis oriented parallel to the (orthonormal) electric field induced by the ferroelectric substrate.

Thin-film organic field effect transistors (OFETs) have attracted growing interest in recent years due to their promising electrical, optical and mechanical properties. Especially, oligothiophenes and their derivates are candidates with good prospects for application as the organic semiconducting material in such devices. They possess an extended, polarisable aromatic π-electron system that promotes a high structural arrangement of the molecules. The charge transport in the organic film is realised in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the thiophene rings via a hopping transport mechanism. Thus, a good π-π-overlap and a consequent stacking of the thiophene molecules in the film perpendicular to the gate substrate is essential to achieve excellent electric properties such as high charge carrier mobilities and low resistive losses. The highly polarisable thiophene-based molecules are also very attractive materials that are potentially applicable as the field-sensitive organic semiconducting component of a ferroelectric OFET device. In such a device, the dielectric gate element of a conventional OFET setup is substituted by a ferroelectric substrate. The electric field that is induced by the polarisation of the ferroelectric material serves as gate field and controlls the charge injection and charge density inside the device. In this thesis, thiophene-based molecules are investigated in detail with respect to their application as field-sensitive organic semiconducting component in a ferroelectric OFET device employing quantum-chemical ab initio and DFT-based methods. We demonstrate that the phosphonic acids can bind the organic molecules to the dielectric or ferroelectric material and well-anchored, robust self-assembled monolayers are formed. Furthermore, special focus is put on the influence of the intermolecular interactions among the organic molecules on the technologically relevant structural and electronic properties. It is found that the CN···HC hydrogen bond link the molecules into extended ribbons, but the π-π-stacking-stacking interaction is the main driving force in the self-assembly of the molecules. We also establish in detail the influence of the electric field on the phosphonic acid anchoring molecule and some quarterthiophene derivates. For the latter, the strongest field-sensitivity is obtained for an external electric field aligned parallel to the extension of the thiophene framework. Hence, they are suitable to act as the field-sensitive organic components in devices that take advantage of a band-gap engineering. Moreover, the present results emphasise the importance of the adsorption morphology of the molecules in the film in a π-stacked fashion with their longitudinal axis oriented parallel to the (orthonormal) electric field induced by the ferroelectric substrate.