Dual-Gate Transistors Using Contact Printed ZnO Nanowires

Large-area printed electronics has garnered considerable attention owing to advantages such as low-cost and resource efficiency. Thin films of various organic, inorganic and/or metal oxide materials have been reported in literature along with single gate transistors based on them. Advancing this further, we report here printed dual-gate transistors, which can open new opportunities for implementation of energy efficient neuromorphic electronics. The dual-gate transistor presented here is based on contact printed ZnO nanowires as a channel material. The electrical characterizations, for both top- and bottom-gated transistors confirms excellent channel control, giving peak field-effect mobility of 12 cm
²
/Vs (top-gate) and 5 cm
²
/Vs (bottom-gate) and high on/off current modulation ratio (I
on/off
) of >10
⁵
for both gates. The dual-gate transistors have the capability to tune/adjust their threshold voltage, which can be used for learning process and hence to build with minimal resources the next generation of neuromorphic-based computing hardware.