Direct-printed nanoscale metal-oxide-wire electronics

Abstract

One-dimensional metal oxide (MO) micro-wires and nano-wires (MOWs) can be excellent functional units for integrated and transparent electronics. However, MOWs produced using conventional synthesis methods are short, uncontrollable, and randomly-distributed, so they cannot be easily used to fabricate high-density transistor arrays with precisely-controlled MOW-channels. Here, we describe a large-scale direct-printed universal nanoscale MOW electronics which includes highly-aligned, digitally-controlled and arbitrarily-long MOW arrays and various nanoscale applications of MOW field-effect transistors (FETs), neuromorphic synaptic transistors, and gas sensors. Broad classes of pristine, doped and alloyed MOWs are fabricated, so we demonstrated all-MOWFETs composed of conducting indium oxide (In2O3) wires and semiconducting indium zinc oxide (IZO) wires; the devices show a high carrier mobility mu similar to 17.67 cm(2) V-1 s(-1), comparable to mu of MO thin-film FETs. MOW synaptic transistors show presynaptic signals dependent postsynaptic behaviors similar to biological synaptic responses; which can be promising nano-electronic units of high-density neuromorphic devices. We also demonstrated MOW gas sensors which show high response to NO2 gas. Our direct-printed, large-scale, and individually-controlled MOW electronics would be a promising approach in development of industrially-viable MOW electronics and open new horizons for precisely-controlled inorganic MOW electronics and nanoscale printed electronics.