2020 Faculty Courses School of Materials and Chemical Technology Department of Materials Science and Engineering Graduate major in Materials Science and Engineering

Plastic Electronic Materials and Devices (Advanced)

Academic unit or major: Graduate major in Materials Science and Engineering
Instructor(s): Kim Ji-Seon
Class Format: Lecture
Media-enhanced courses: -
Day of week/Period (Classrooms): Intensive
Class: -
Course Code: MAT.P604
Number of credits: 100
Course offered: 2020
Offered quarter: 3-4Q
Syllabus updated: Jul 10, 2025
Language: English

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

This lecture course will cover the basic physics of molecular (organic) semiconductors introducing the concept of π-conjugation and the electronic structure of π-conjugated materials. It will review the optoelectronic processes occurring at these materials including their neutral, excited and charged states and charge transport properties. It will also introduce the principles of design and operation of molecular semiconductor based devices including light emitting devices, solar cells, thin film transistors, as well as providing an introduction to device fabrication and device engineering for maximum performance and lifetime.

Course description and aims

Students are expected to acquire understanding of the basic physical principles of optoelectronic devices based on functional organic materials, and to get insight into structural and design principles of operational devices, including he latest trends in the field.

Keywords

organic semiconductors, conjugated materials, photophysics, exciton and charge transport, optoelectronic devices, solar cells, light-emitting devices, thin film transistors

Competencies

Specialist skills
Intercultural skills
Communication skills
Critical thinking skills
Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

This intensive course will consisty of 7 lectures

Course schedule/Objectives

	Course schedule	Objectives
Class 1	Electronic structures of organic semiconductors: This lecture will cover an overview of carbon chemistry, using carbon-based materials to create the building-blocks of organic semiconductors. Molecular orbitals with bonding and antibonding characters, Peierls distortion in one-dimensional conjugated systems, and the conjugated aromatic ring based organic semiconductors will be covered.	None
Class 2	Neutral excitations in organic semiconductors: This lecture will introduce the fundamental excited electronic species in organic semiconductors including polarons, excitons, exciplexes and excimers. The formation and characteristics of these species will be discussed.	None
Class 3	Singlet and triplet excitons in organic semiconductors: This lecture will focus on the neutral excited electronic species such as singlet and triplet excitons in organic semiconductors. How are they formed (symmetry of spin states and spatial wavefunctions)? How do they move? Why is it important to consider singlet and triplet excitons in organic electronics?	None
Class 4	Optical and electronic properties of organic semiconductors: This lecture will introduce the molecular vibrational coupling to the molecular electronic structure, which is one of the most important characteristics of organic semiconductors different from conventional inorganic semiconductors. Absorption & Emission, Fluorescence quantum yield, Exciton diffusion and migration of organic semiconductors will be discussed.	None
Class 5	Charged excitations & transport in organic semiconductors: This lecture will review the charged excitations (polarons) and their transport mechanisms in organic semiconductors. What are the polarons? How to generate them? How to probe them? Comparison with inorganics. Hopping model, intermolecular charge transfer, transfer integral, and Gaussian disorder model will be discussed.	None
Class 6	Organic light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) – Device Physics & Engineering: This lecture will introduce the basic OLED device structure, device operational mechanism, with a particular focus on the factors determining device efficiency and how to control these factors.	None
Class 7	Organic Photovoltaic Devices (OPVs) & Organic Field Effect Transistors (OFETs): This lecture will cover the basic OPV and OFET device structures and their operational mechanisms, and the important factors determining device performance. It will introduce new donor-acceptor type polymers and non-fullerene acceptors recently developed for high efficiency OPV and OFET devices. It will also include a brief introduction of other novel electronic applications using organic semiconductors such as organic bioelectronics.	None

Study advice (preparation and review)

Textbook(s)

will be specified in the class

Reference books, course materials, etc.

will be specified in the class

Evaluation methods and criteria

report

Related courses

MAT.P403 ： Soft Materials Physics None

Prerequisites

None