(451d) Providing a Robust Experimental Database Model for Organic Thin-Film Electronics

The domain of π-conjugated polymer semiconductors is undoubtedly an active frontier for next-generation materials and a keen area of interest for both the materials informatics and organic electronics communities, due to their imminent promise in large-area, printable, deformable devices and mobilizing new energy applications. However, despite recent successes in the data-enabled development of organic transistors, photovoltaics, and electrochromic devices, rational design for organic thin-film electronics, particularly those that are polymer-based, still largely materialize through one-parameter-at-a-time, hypothesis-driven studies due to a lack of available representative experimental data. The materials domain of π-conjugated polymer semiconductors remains a research area in dire need of experimental data management solutions. However, experimental database management for polymer-based electronics is not trivial, especially when a plurality of the relevant attributes related to the provenance of the sample must be included accurately to form a robust, “reusable” data record. Fully capturing this information is not easy for organic devices. Because they are designed with critical device geometries at the nano- to micrometer length scale, their performance metrics are highly sensitive to their process history. Capturing this complex set of information requires the availability of domain standards and flexible data structures to account for the evolving process space that is inherently dynamic in experimental research. In this work, using organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) as a model system, a data model toward representation of organic device experiments is proposed, designed, and implemented in an object-relational database. To guide a robust representation of device process history, this work draws upon ISA-88, an international standard for automation in batch process control, to construct generalizable relationships across process transformations within the OFET fabrication procedure. By building a data repository that can handle the various nuances of the complex OFET design space, we present a foundation toward a suitable data-enabled platform to enhance hypothesis design, scientific decision-making, and model development within the traditionally “small data” space of the organic electronics community. Additionally, by designing a data model around an accepted process standard and defining keywords centered around the experimental procedure, this work not only enables a database design toward Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data representations for organic thin-film transistors, but also presents an adaptable prototype for both the organic electronics and the broader materials community.