Field-effect Transistor Arrays Research Articles

Active-matrix extended-gate field-effect transistor array for simultaneous detection of multiple metabolites

With the deepening understanding of diseases, increasing attention has been paid to personalized healthcare and precise diagnosis, which usually depend on the simultaneous monitoring of multiple metabolites, therefore requiring biological sensing systems to possess high sensitivity, specificity, throughput, and instant monitoring capabilities. In this work, we demonstrated the active-matrix extended-gate field-effect transistor (AMEGFET) array that can perform instant analysis of various metabolites in small amounts of body fluids collected during routine physiological activities. The extended gate electrodes of the AMEGFETs comprise ordered mesoporous carbon fibers loaded with both oxidoreductase enzymes for specific metabolites and platinum nanoparticles. By selecting customized electrode combinations, the AMEGFET array can monitor the concentrations of metabolites closely associated with chronic diseases and lifestyles, such as glucose, uric acid, cholesterol, ethanol, and lactate. The switch function of AMEGFET not only simplifies the readout circuitry for large-scale arrays but also avoids the mutual interferences among sensing units. The high flexibility and scalability make the AMEGFET array widely applicable in establishing high-throughput sensing platforms for biomarkers, providing highly efficient technical support for proactive health and intelligent healthcare.

A clean transfer approach to prepare centimetre-scale black phosphorus crystalline multilayers on silicon substrates for field-effect transistors

Recently reported direct growth of highly crystalline centimetre-sized black phosphorus (BP) thin films on mica substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) has attracted considerable research interest. However, an effective and general transfer method to incorporate them into (opto-)electronic devices is still missing. Here, we show a wet transfer method utilizing ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) and an ethylene glycol (EG) solution to transfer high-crystalline large-area PLD-BP films onto SiO2/Si substrates. The transferred films were used to fabricate BP-based bottom-gate field-effect transistor (FET) arrays exhibiting good uniformity and continuity, with carrier mobility and current switching ratios comparable to those obtained in as-grown BP films on mica substrates. Our work presents a promising transfer strategy for scalable integration of on-substrate grown 2D BP into devices with more complex structures and further investigation of material properties.

Integrated 1D epitaxial mirror twin boundaries for ultrascaled 2D MoS2 field-effect transistors.

In atomically thin van der Waals materials, grain boundaries-the line defects between adjacent crystal grains with tilted in-plane rotations-are omnipresent. When the tilting angles are arbitrary, the grain boundaries form inhomogeneous sublattices, giving rise to local electronic states that are not controlled. Here we report on epitaxial realizations of deterministic MoS2 mirror twin boundaries (MTBs) at which two adjoining crystals are reflection mirroring by an exactly 60° rotation by position-controlled epitaxy. We showed that these epitaxial MTBs are one-dimensionally metallic to a circuit length scale. By utilizing the ultimate one-dimensional (1D) feature (width ~0.4 nm and length up to a few tens of micrometres), we incorporated the epitaxial MTBs as a 1D gate to build integrated two-dimensional field-effect transistors (FETs). The critical role of the 1D MTB gate was verified to scale the depletion channel length down to 3.9 nm, resulting in a substantially lowered channel off-current at lower gate voltages. With that, in both individual and array FETs, we demonstrated state-of-the-art performances for low-power logics. The 1D epitaxial MTB gates in this work suggest a novel synthetic pathway for the integration of two-dimensional FETs-that are immune to high gate capacitance-towards ultimate scaling.

Polyacrylonitrile as an Efficient Transfer Medium for Wafer-Scale Transfer of Graphene.

The disparity between growth substrates and application-specific substrates can be mediated by reliable graphene transfer, the lack of which currently strongly hinders the graphene applications. Conventionally, the removal of soft polymers, that support the graphene during the transfer, would contaminate graphene surface, produce cracks, and leave unprotected graphene surface sensitive to airborne contaminations. In this work, it is found that polyacrylonitrile (PAN) can function as polymer medium for transferring wafer-size graphene, and encapsulating layer to deliver high-performance graphene devices. Therefore, PAN, that is compatible with device fabrication, does not need to be removed for subsequent applications. The crack-free transfer of 4 in. graphene onto SiO2/Si wafers, and the wafer-scale fabrication of graphene-based field-effect transistor arrays with no observed clear doping, uniformly high carrier mobility (≈11000 cm2 V-1 s-1), and long-term stability at room temperature, are achieved. This work presents new concept for designing the transfer process of 2D materials, in which multifunctional polymer can be retained, and offers a reliable method for fabricating wafer-scale devices of 2D materials with outstanding performance.

Time-encoded electrical detection of trace RNA biomarker by integrating programmable molecular amplifier on chip

One of the serious challenges facing modern point-of-care (PoC) molecular diagnostic platforms relate to reliable detection of low concentration biomarkers such as nucleic acids or proteins in biological samples. Non-specific analyte-receptor interactions due to competitive binding in the presence of abundant molecules, inefficient mass transport and very low number of analyte molecules in sample volume, in general pose critical hurdles for successful implementation of such PoC platforms for clinical use. Focusing on these specific challenges, this work reports a unique PoC biosensor that combines the advantages of nanoscale biologically-sensitive field-effect transistor arrays (BioFET-arrays) realized in a wafer-scale top-down nanofabrication as high sensitivity electrical transducers with that of sophisticated molecular programs (MPs) customized for selective recognition of analyte miRNAs and amplification resulting in an overall augmentation of signal transduction strategy. The MPs realize a programmable universal molecular amplifier (PUMA) in fluidic matrix on chip and provide a biomarker-triggered exponential release of small nucleic acid sequences easily detected by receptor-modified BioFETs. A common miRNA biomarker LET7a was selected for successful demonstration of this novel biosensor, achieving limit of detection (LoD) down to 10 fM and wide dynamic ranges (10 pM–10 nM) in complex physiological solutions. As the determination of biomarker concentration is implemented by following the electrical signal related to analyte-triggered PUMA in time-domain instead of measuring the threshold shifts of BioFETs, and circumvents direct hybridization of biomarkers at transducer surface, this new strategy also allows for multiple usage (>3 times) of the biosensor platform suggesting exceptional cost-effectiveness for practical use.

Breaking Fundamental Limitation of Flow-Induced Anisotropic Growth for Large-Scale and Fast Printing of Organic Single-Crystal Films.

Advanced organic electronic technologies have put forward a pressing demand for cost-effective and high-throughput fabrication of organic single-crystal films (OSCFs). However, solution-printed OSCFs are typically plagued by the existence of abundant structural defects, which pose a formidable challenge to achieving large-scale and high-performance organic electronics. Here, it is elucidated that these structural defects are mainly originated from printing flow-induced anisotropic growth, an important factor that is overlooked for too long. In light of this, a surfactant-additive printing method is proposed to effectively overcome the anisotropic growth, enabling the deposition of uniform OSCFs over the wafer scale at a high speed of 1.2 mm s-1 at room temperature. The resulting OSCF exhibits appealing performance with a high average mobility up to 10.7 cm2 V-1 s-1, which is one of the highest values for flexible organic field-effect transistor arrays. Moreover, large-scale OSCF-based flexible logic circuits, which can be bent without degradation to a radius as small as 4.0 mm and over 1000 cycles are realized. The work provides profound insights into breaking the limitation of flow-induced anisotropic growth and opens new avenues for printing large-scale organic single-crystal electronics.

Controlled lattice deformation for high-mobility two-dimensional MoTe2 growth

Two-dimensional (2D) MoTe2 shows great potential for future semiconductor devices, but the lab-to-fab transition is still in its preliminary stage due to the constraints in the crystal growth level. Currently, the chemical vapor deposition growth of 2D MoTe2 primarily relies on the tellurization process of Mo-source precursor (MSP). However, the target product 2H-MoTe2 from Mo precursor suffers from long growth time and suboptimal crystal quality, and MoOx precursor confronts the dilemma of unclear growth mechanism and inconsistent growth products. Here, we developed magnetron-sputtered MoO3 film for fast and high-mobility 2H-MoTe2 growth. The solid-to-solid phase transition growth mechanism of 2D MoTe2 from Mo and MoOx precursor was first experimentally unified, and the effect mechanism of MSPs on 2D MoTe2 growth was systematically elucidated. Compared with Mo and MoO2, the MoO3 precursor has the least Mo-unit lattice deformation and exhibits the optimal crystal quality of growth products. Meanwhile, the lowest Gibbs free energy change of the chemical reaction results in an impressive 2H-MoTe2 growth rate of 8.07 μm/min. The constructed 2H-MoTe2 field-effect transistor array from MoO3 precursor showcases record-high hole mobility of 85 cm2/(V·s), competitive on-off ratio of 3×104, and outstanding uniformity. This scalable method not only offers efficiency but also aligns with industry standards, making it a promising guideline for diverse 2D material preparation towards real-world applications.

Chronic full-band recordings with graphene microtransistors as neural interfaces for discrimination of brain states.

Brain states such as sleep, anesthesia, wakefulness, or coma are characterized by specific patterns of cortical activity dynamics, from local circuits to full-brain emergent properties. We previously demonstrated that full-spectrum signals, including the infraslow component (DC, direct current-coupled), can be recorded acutely in multiple sites using flexible arrays of graphene solution-gated field-effect transistors (gSGFETs). Here, we performed chronic implantation of 16-channel gSGFET arrays over the rat cerebral cortex and recorded full-band neuronal activity with two objectives: (1) to test the long-term stability of implanted devices; and (2) to investigate full-band activity during the transition across different levels of anesthesia. First, we demonstrate it is possible to record full-band signals with stability, fidelity, and spatiotemporal resolution for up to 5.5 months using chronic epicortical gSGFET implants. Second, brain states generated by progressive variation of levels of anesthesia could be identified as traditionally using the high-pass filtered (AC, alternating current-coupled) spectrogram: from synchronous slow oscillations in deep anesthesia through to asynchronous activity in the awake state. However, the DC signal introduced a highly significant improvement for brain-state discrimination: the DC band provided an almost linear information prediction of the depth of anesthesia, with about 85% precision, using a trained algorithm. This prediction rose to about 95% precision when the full-band (AC + DC) spectrogram was taken into account. We conclude that recording infraslow activity using gSGFET interfaces is superior for the identification of brain states, and further supports the preclinical and clinical use of graphene neural interfaces for long-term recordings of cortical activity.

Synthesis of submillimeter-scale laterally-grown germanium monosulfide thin films and their electro-optic applications

Submillimeter-scale laterally-grown germanium monosulfide thin films and gate voltage-dependent hysteresis response of fabricated GeS field-effect transistor arrays.

Hysteresis erasure in ZIF-8@ZnO nanorod array field-effect transistors through oxygen chemisorption-induced depolarization

Zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) is a versatile candidate for next-generation electronics owing to its adjustable lattice and physicochemical properties. However, the utilization of ZIF-8 for the fabrication of solid-state electronics and circuit components, such as field-effect transistors (FETs), has not been realized thus far, primarily due to ongoing debates surrounding its electrical properties. In this work, we fabricated n-type FETs using ZIF-8@ZnO nanorod arrays. A significant hysteresis behavior was observed. It was demonstrated that this hysteresis cannot be assigned to the well-established ferroelectric effect but rather to the polarization of ZIF-8, wherein the electric field of the gate aligns the dipole of 2-methylimidazole through molecular orientation rotation. It was clarified that the process of annealing in air can result in the chemisorption of oxygen on methylimidazole, leading to a limitation in the rotation of methylimidazole. This restriction ultimately causes the depolarization of ZIF-8, resulting in the erasure of hysteresis. This study unfolds the tunable hysteresis behavior of ZIF-8 and its sensibility to oxygen, thereby highlighting the potential applications of ZIF-8 in FETs, nonvolatile memories, and gas sensors.

Aptasensors based on silicon nanowire field-effect transistors for electrical detection of thrombin

Arrays of silicon nanowire field-effect transistors (Si NWFETs) were built to detect thrombin (a model biomarker) electrically. The Si NWFETs were created using a conventional top-down CMOS process, allowing them to be co-integrated with CMOS readout circuits in the future. EHTES organosilane was then used to graft aptamer probes onto the HfO2 gate oxide of Si nanowires. We investigated the influence of aptamer grafting and thrombin recognition on the electrical transfer capabilities of Si NWFET aptasensors in details. Our technique was evaluated on a significant number of Si NWFETs, including two distinct chips with 30 aptasensors apiece. According to the findings, aptamer grafting increased the threshold voltage by a positive range of +28.8 mV to +87.7 mV, depending on the aptasensor employed. Thrombin identification, on the other hand, resulted in a negative shift of the threshold voltage between −26.6 and − 23.8 mV. These opposing voltage shifts coincide with the aptamer probes' and thrombin molecules' electric charges, respectively. These findings provide unique demonstration of Si NWFETs manufactured utilizing typical top-down CMOS processing methods, allowing these devices to be used in various biomedical and biosensing applications.

Layer-Controlled Growth of Single-Crystalline 2D Bi2O2Se Film Driven by Interfacial Reconstruction.

As semiconductor scaling continues to reach sub-nanometer levels, two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors are emerging as a promising candidate for the post-silicon material. Among these alternatives, Bi2O2Se has risen as an exceptionally promising 2D semiconductor thanks to its excellent electrical properties, attributed to its appropriate bandgap and small effective mass. However, unlike other 2D materials, growth of large-scale Bi2O2Se films with precise layer control is still challenging due to its large surface energy caused by relatively strong interlayer electrostatic interactions. Here, we present the successful growth of a wafer-scale (∼3 cm) Bi2O2Se film with precise thickness control down to the monolayer level on TiO2-terminated SrTiO3 using metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) analysis confirmed the formation of a [BiTiO4]1- interfacial structure, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the formation of [BiTiO4]1- significantly reduced the interfacial energy between Bi2O2Se and SrTiO3, thereby promoting 2D growth. Additionally, spectral responsivity measurements of two-terminal devices confirmed a bandgap increase of up to 1.9 eV in monolayer Bi2O2Se, which is consistent with our DFT calculations. Finally, we demonstrated high-performance Bi2O2Se field-effect transistor (FET) arrays, exhibiting an excellent average electron mobility of 56.29 cm2/(V·s). This process is anticipated to enable wafer-scale applications of 2D Bi2O2Se and facilitate exploration of intriguing physical phenomena in confined 2D systems.

Reversible Transition of Semiconducting PtSe2 and Metallic PtTe2 for Scalable All-2D Edge-Contacted FETs.

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) layers are highly promising as field-effect transistor (FET) channels in the atomic-scale limit. However, accomplishing this superiority in scaled-up FETs remains challenging due to their van der Waals (vdW) bonding nature with respect to conventional metal electrodes. Herein, we report a scalable approach to fabricate centimeter-scale all-2D FET arrays of platinum diselenide (PtSe2) with in-plane platinum ditelluride (PtTe2) edge contacts, mitigating the aforementioned challenges. We realized a reversible transition between semiconducting PtSe2 and metallic PtTe2 via a low-temperature anion exchange reaction compatible with the back-end-of-line (BEOL) processes. All-2D PtSe2 FETs seamlessly edge-contacted with transited metallic PtTe2 exhibited significant performance improvements compared to those with surface-contacted gold electrodes, e.g., an increase of carrier mobility and on/off ratio by over an order of magnitude, achieving a maximum hole mobility of ∼50.30 cm2 V-1 s-1 at room temperature. This study opens up new opportunities toward atomically thin 2D-TMD-based circuitries with extraordinary functionalities.

High Resolution Static Electricity Imaging by Floating Extended-Gate Organic Field-Effect Transistor Array

High Resolution Static Electricity Imaging by Floating Extended-Gate Organic Field-Effect Transistor Array

Topology-Mediated Molecule Nucleation Anchoring Enables Inkjet Printing of Organic Semiconducting Single Crystals for High-Performance Printed Electronics.

Printable organic semiconducting single crystals (OSSCs) offer tantalizing opportunities for next-generation wearable electronics, but their development has been plagued by a long-standing yet inherent problem─spatially uncontrolled and stochastic nucleation events─which usually causes the formation of polycrystalline films and hence limited performance. Here, we report a convenient approach to precisely manipulate the elusive molecule nucleation process for high-throughput inkjet printing of OSSCs with record-high mobility. By engineering curvature of the contact line with a teardrop-shaped micropattern, molecule nucleation is elegantly anchored at the vertex of the topological structure, enabling formation of a single nucleus for the subsequent growth of OSSCs. Using this approach, we achieve patterned growth of 2,7-dioctyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophene single crystals, yielding a breakthrough for an organic field-effect transistor array with a high average mobility of 12.5 cm2 V-1 s-1. These findings not only provide keen insights into controlling molecule nucleation kinetics but also offer opportunities for high-performance printed electronics.

Improved Stability of Graphene-Coated CMOS ISFETs for Biosensing.

A polymer-assisted graphene transfer method is used to transfer sheets of monolayer and multilayer graphene onto the passivation layer of ion-sensitive field effect transistor arrays. The arrays are fabricated using commercial 0.35 μm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology and contain 3874 pixels sensitive to pH changes on the top silicon nitride surface. By inhibiting dispersive ion transport and hydration of this underlying nitride layer, the transferred graphene sheets help address non-idealities in the sensor response while retaining some pH sensitivity due to the presence of ion adsorption sites. Improvements in hydrophilicity and electrical conductivity of the sensing surface after graphene transfer, as well as in-plane molecular diffusion along the graphene-nitride interface, also greatly improve spatial consistency across an array, allowing for ∼20% more pixels to remain within operating range and enhancing sensor reliability. Multilayer graphene offers a better performance trade-off than monolayer graphene, reducing drift rate by ∼25% and drift amplitude by ∼59% with minimal reduction in pH sensitivity. Monolayer graphene offers slightly better temporal and spatial uniformity in performance of a sensing array, which is associated with the consistency in layer thickness and a lower defect density.

Molecular Doping Modulation and Applications of Structure-Sorted Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes: A Review.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) that have a reproducible distribution of chiralities or single chirality are among the most competitive materials for realizing post-silicon electronics. Molecular doping, with its non-destructive and fine-tunable characteristics, is emerging as the primary doping approach for the structure-controlled SWCNTs, enabling their eventual use in various functional devices. This review provides an overview of important advances in the area of molecular doping of structure-controlled SWCNTs and their applications. The first part introduces the underlying physical process of molecular doping, followed by a comprehensive survey of the commonly used dopants for SWCNTs to date. Then, it highlights how the convergence of molecular doping and structure-sorting strategies leads to significantly improved functionality of SWCNT-based field-effect transistor arrays, transparent electrodes in optoelectronics, thermoelectrics, and many emerging devices. At last, several challenges and opportunities in this field are discussed, with the hope of shedding light on promoting the practical application of SWCNTs in future electronics.

(Invited) Optical Properties and Device Application of One-Dimensional Vdw Heterostructures Based on Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

A typical one-dimensional (1D) van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure consists of SWCNT, boron nitride nanotube (BNNT), and molybdenum disulfide nanotube (MoS2NT), grown coaxially by successive chemical vapor deposition (CVD) steps [1, 2]. The coaxially nested structure based on SWCNTs, which has diverse electronic properties (metallic or semiconducting), can expand the board application possibilities of 1D vdW heterostructures [3]. By comparing the optical properties of films of BNNT@MoS2NT and SWCNT@BNNT@MoS2NT, we found strong photoluminescence (PL) from monolayer MoS2NT and quenching of PL by coupling to SWCNT through thin BNNT [4]. The inter-tube excitons are demonstrated by ultrafast optical spectroscopy [5]. The inter-tube excitons, the counterpart of inter-layer excitons for 2D heterostructures, suggest a possibility of efficient photovoltaic applications of the 1D heterostructure [6]. In addition to MoS2 nanotubes, we will discuss the growth control of WS2 and NbS2 nanotubes. A general strategy we can tune the CVD condition from 2D flake to 1D tube is proposed. The junctions of MoS2 and WS2 nanotube are also realized as the outermost layer. More specific optical properties are studied for semiconductor SWCNTs and chirality-sorted SWCNTs [7,8]. Semiconductor SWCNT or chirality-sorted SWCNT wrapped with BNNT can be regarded as the ideal building blocks of field-effect transistors (FET) [9]. We have demonstrated the radial semiconductor–insulator–semiconductor (S-I-S) tunneling heterojunction diode by using a micrometer long 1D vdW heterostructure SWCNT@BNNT@MoS2NT [10]. We will discuss a more recent array of 1D heterostructure FET devices.Part of this work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP20H00220, and by JST, CREST Grant Number JPMJCR20B5, Japan.

CRISPR-Cas12a Biosensor Array for Ultrasensitive Detection of Unamplified DNA with Single-Nucleotide Polymorphic Discrimination

Quantitative polymerase chain reaction as a powerful tool for DNA detection has been pivotal to a vast range of applications, including disease screening, food safety assessment, environmental monitoring, and many others. However, the essential target amplification step in combination with fluorescence readout poses a significant challenge to rapid and streamlined analysis. The discovery and engineering of the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated (Cas) technology have recently paved the way for a novel approach to nucleic acid detection, but the majority of current CRISPR-mediated DNA detection platforms are limited by insufficient sensitivity and still require target preamplification. Herein, we report a CRISPR-Cas12a-mediated graphene field-effect transistor (gFET) array, named CRISPR Cas12a-gFET, for amplification-free, ultrasensitive, and reliable detection of both single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) and double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) targets. CRISPR Cas12a-gFET leverages the multiturnover trans-cleavage activity of CRISPR Cas12a for intrinsic signal amplification and ultrasensitivity of gFET. As demonstrated, CRISPR Cas12a-gFET achieves a limit of detection of 1 aM for the ssDNA human papillomavirus 16 synthetic target and 10 aM for the dsDNA Escherichia coli plasmid target without target preamplification. In addition, an array of 48 sensors on a single 1.5 cm × 1.5 cm chip is employed to improve data reliability. Finally, Cas12a-gFET demonstrates the capability to discriminate single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Together, the CRISPR Cas12a-gFET biosensor array provides a detection tool for amplification-free, ultrasensitive, reliable, and highly specific DNA detections.

Study of reaction-diffusion controlled mass transport in stopped-flow fluidics for spatiotemporal multiplexing

Integration of biochemical reaction networks (BRNs) with biosensor platforms has emerged as a technological niche overcoming challenges related to the loss of sensitivity and selectivity in biological media. Optimal operation of BRNs in microfluidics requires control over reaction-diffusion dominated mass transport, heavily influenced by fluidic parameters. In this work, we study and design an on-chip platform combining a programable unique molecular amplification as BRNs with nanoscale biologically sensitive field-effect transistor (BioFET) arrays, which employs a physical diffusion barrier to gain spatial and temporal control over mass transport. Computational and numerical approaches, such as finite element and finite volume methods, were implemented to solve partial differential equations numerically after domain approximation by numerous finite elements. The focus on geometrical optimizations of fluidics is aimed at mass transport to occur with precise spatial and temporal control toward BioFET-arrays. Adopting a 0.5 pM limit-of-detection (LoD) for biochemical monitoring of BRNs via a single-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (ssDNA) output, we show that it was possible to compartmentalize the mass transport spatiotemporally without crosstalk, which can be of critical advantage for using biosensor arrays in order to realize simplified multiplexed point-of-care biosensors.