Abstract
Electrochromic transistors (ECTs) have attracted attention as advanced memory technology because one can use both electrochromism and switching of electrical conductivity in a nonvolatile manner. Although several solid-state ECTs have been proposed so far, their operating speed is still slow (operating time >1 min) as compared to liquid-based ECTs (∼20 s) due to their asymmetric gate-source electrode configuration. Here we demonstrate a fast operation of a solid-state ECT. We fabricated a solid-state ECT with three terminal gate-source-drain electrodes using an amorphous WO3 film as the electrochromic material and amorphous TaOx as the solid electrolyte. By the insertion of a thin ZnO layer between the source and drain electrodes to achieve pseudo symmetric gate-source electrode configuration, we greatly reduced the operation time to less than 1 s at ±3 V application while keeping the on-to-off ratio of ∼30. The present approach is effective to improve the operating speed of ECTs and may be practically used in advanced memory technologies.
Highlights
Electrochromic transistors (ECTs), which are the combinations of electrochromic displays (ECDs) and three terminal transistors, have attracted attention as advanced memory devices because ECTs have advantages against conventional data storage devices, which can store 1 bit of information as 0 or 1.1,2 For example, WO3-based ECT channel turns from high resistive to low resistive state when the positive gate voltage is applied
The Rs of the ECT without the transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) layer is shown for comparison
The operating speed was ∼20 μm s−1, which correspond to the time to protonate from the edge of source electrode to the edge of the drain electrode
Summary
Electrochromic transistors (ECTs), which are the combinations of electrochromic displays (ECDs) and three terminal transistors, have attracted attention as advanced memory devices because ECTs have advantages against conventional data storage devices, which can store 1 bit of information as 0 or 1.1,2 For example, WO3-based ECT channel turns from high resistive to low resistive state when the positive gate voltage is applied. Neuromorphic transistor, which imitated synaptic movements, has been developed using WO3-ECTs. Previously, most researchers used liquid electrolytes to fabricate WO3-based ECT, the use of a liquid is not suitable for the practical application due to the leakage problem. The protonation occurs at the WO3 layer near the source electrode firstly, and it gradually proceeds to the drain electrode side Since both ECTs and ECDs utilize the electrochemical reaction of WO3 and proton [WO3 + xH+ + xe− ↔ HxWO3], the flowing current in the whole WO3 film dominates the operation speed. The operation speed of the reported ECTs with asymmetric electrode configuration is slower than that of ECDs and liquid-based ECTs. Here we show a fast operation of a solid-state WO3-based ECT. The present approach is effective to improve the operating speed of ECTs and may be practically used in advanced memory technologies
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