Stochastic Nature of Large‐Scale Contact Printed ZnO Nanowires Based Transistors

Abstract

Printing technology holds great potential for resource‐efficient development of electronic devices and circuits. However, even after decades of research, achieving uniformly responding nanowires (NWs) based printed devices is still a challenge. To date, there is no design rule that clearly guides the fabrication of NW ensemble‐based field‐effect transistors (FETs) and the variables that influence device‐level uniformity remain unclear. The lack of fundamental understanding severely limits the large‐scale and very large‐scale integration (LSI and VLSI). Herein this longstanding issue is addressed with a holistic approach that starts with optimization of the synthesis of ZnO NWs, their printing, and further processing to fabricate transistors with uniform responses (e.g., on‐state current, threshold voltage). Monte Carlo simulation based on statistical analysis of printed ZnO NWs is carried out to develop a probabilistic framework that can predict the large‐scale performance of FETs. As a proof of concept, inverter circuits have been developed using printed ZnO NWs based FETs. This work provides a valuable toolkit to handle the stochastic nature of FETs based on printed ZnO NW ensemble, which can be used for neuromorphic integrated circuit in the future.