Versatile Thin‐Film Transistor with Independent Control of Charge Injection and Transport for Mixed Signal and Analog Computation

Abstract

New materials and optimized fabrication techniques have led to steady evolution in large area electronics, yet significant advances come only with new approaches to fundamental device design. The multimodal thin-film transistor introduced here offers broad functionality resulting from separate control of charge injection and transport, essentially using distinct regions of the active material layer for two complementary device functions, and is material agnostic. The initial implementation uses mature processes to focus on the device's fundamental benefits. A tenfold increase in switching speed, linear input–output dependence, and tolerance to process variations enable low-distortion amplifiers and signal converters with reduced complexity. Floating gate designs eliminate deleterious drain voltage coupling for superior analog memory or computing. This versatile device introduces major new opportunities for thin-film technologies, including compact circuits for integrated processing at the edge and energy-efficient analog computation.