High-performance and low-power source-gated transistors enabled by a solution-processed metal oxide homojunction

Xinming Zhuang, Joon Seok Kim, Wei Huang*, Yao Chen, Gang Wang, Jianhua Chen, Yao Yao, Zhi Wang*, Fengjing Liu, Junsheng Yu, Yuhua Cheng, Zaixing Yang*, Lincoln J. Lauhon*, Tobin Jay Marks*, Antonio Facchetti*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cost-effective fabrication of mechanically flexible low-power electronics is important for emerging applications including wearable electronics, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things. Here, solution-processed source-gated transistors (SGTs) with an unprecedented intrinsic gain of ~2,000, low saturation voltage of +0.8 ± 0.1 V, and a ~25.6 μW power consumption are realized using an indium oxide In2O3/ In2O3:polyethylenimine (PEI) blend homojunction with Au contacts on Si/SiO2. Kelvin probe force microscopy confirms source-controlled operation of the SGT and reveals that PEI doping leads to more effective depletion of the reverse-biased Schottky contact source region. Furthermore, using a fluoride-doped AlOx gate dielectric, rigid (on a Si substrate) and flexible (on a polyimide substrate) SGTs were fabricated. These devices exhibit a low driving voltage of +2 V and power consumption of ~11.5 μW, yielding inverters with an outstanding voltage gain of >5,000. Furthermore, electrooculographic (EOG) signal monitoring can now be demonstrated using an SGT inverter, where a ~1.0 mV EOG signal is amplified to over 300 mV, indicating significant potential for applications in wearable medical sensing and human–computer interfacing.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere2216672120
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume120
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 17 2023

Funding

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. This work was supported by the NSF MRSEC program (grant DMR-1720139) and by AFOSR (grants FA9550-18-1-0320 and FA9550-22-1-0423). This work made use of the Northwestern University Micro/Nano Fabrication Facility (NUFAB),and EPIC facility of Northwestern University’s NUANCE Center, which has received support from the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF ECCS-1542205); the MRSEC program (NSF DMR-1720139) at the Materials Research Center; the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN); the Keck Foundation; and the State of Illinois, through the IIN. X.Z. thanks the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant Nos. U21A20492 & 62104133); Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2021QA011); China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2021M701976); Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents of Shandong Province (SDBX2021002). We also gratefully acknowledge Q. Zhang’s kind help in drawing the eye diagram.

Keywords

  • EOG monitoring
  • Kelvin probe force microscopy
  • metal oxide–polymer blend material
  • solution processing
  • source-gated transistor (SGT)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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