Dielectric materials: Gels excel

Ion gels dielectrics comprising of room temperature ionic liquid and a self-assembling triblock copolymer are increasingly being used to increase transistor performance and demonstrate speeds at low voltage. Triblock copolymer adds mechanical integrity to the ionic liquid so that after printing from a solvent, the solvent-dried gel does not flow. The large specific capacitance arises from the mobile ions in the gel, on application of a voltage across the gel layer, and ions move to form electrical double layers at the interfaces. The ion gel gate dielectrics are polarizable and allow the gate electrode to be offset from the transistor channel so that no registration of the gate line with the source/drain is necessary.