Organic semiconductors are usually not thought to show outstanding performance in highlyintegrated, sub 100 nm transistors. Consequently, single-crystalline materials such as SWCNTs, MoS2 or inorganic semiconductors are the material of choice at these nanoscopic dimensions. Here, we show that using a novel vertical field-effect transistor design with a channel length of only 40 nm and a footprint of 2 x 80 x 80 nm², high electrical performance with organic polymers can be realized when using electrolyte gating. Our organic transistors combine high on-state current densities of above 3 MA/cm², on/off current modulation ratios of up to 10 8 and large transconductances of up to 5000 S/m. Given the high on-state currents at yet large on/off ratios, our novel structures also show promise for use in artificial neural networks, where they could operate as memristive devices with sub 100 fJ energy usage.
Electrolyte-gated organic transistors (EGOTs) are promising candidates as a new class of neuromorphic devices in hardware-based artificial neural networks that can outperform their complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) counterparts regarding processing speed and energy consumption. Several ways in which to implement such networks exist, two prominent methods of which can be implemented by nanoscopic vertical EGOTs, as we show here. First, nanoscopic vertical electrolyte-gated transistors with a donor−acceptor diketopyrrolopyrrole− terthiophene polymer as an active material can be used to reversibly switch the channel conductivity over five orders of magnitude (3.8 nS to 392 μS) and perform switching at low operation voltages down to −1 mV. Second, nanoscopic EGOTs can also mimic fundamental synaptic functions, and we show an interconnection of up to three transistors, highlighting the possibility to emulate biological nerve cells.
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