High‐Performance Organic‐Inorganic Hybrid Thin‐Film Transistors with Interesting Synaptic Behaviors

Abstract

Herein, high‐performance electrochemical tungsten oxide (WO3) transistors based on electrolyte gating dielectric, which exhibit simultaneous optical and electrical modulation, are successfully fabricated by radio‐frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. The amorphous WO3 layer enhances the electrochemical doping and de‐doping process, translating into excellent cyclic transfer characteristics. Superior properties, such as a positive threshold voltage of 0.8 V, an off‐state current on the order of 10−11 A, a large on/off drain current ratio of 2.82 × 108, a steep subthreshold swing of 86.4 mV dec−1, and a transconductance of 8.48 mS, are obtained from the transfer characteristics. Moreover, the modulation of the channel resistance induced by ion migration resembles the transmission process in biological synapses. In this case, the synaptic behavior is naturally emulated through the electrostatic and electrochemical effects in the novel electrolyte–gated WO3 transistor. The simple processing together with excellent device performance of the novel electrochemical transistors can open doors for a wide range of new applications in flexible display, artificial synapses, biosensors, supercapacitors, and electrochemical logic circuits.