Proton conducting zeolite films for low-voltage oxide-based electric-double-layer thin-film transistors and logic gates

Abstract

Three-dimensional nanoporous zeolite films with Linde Type A (LTA) structure prepared by a seeding-free synthesis strategy exhibited high room-temperature proton conductivity and large electric-double-layer (EDL) capacitance. In-plane-gate indium-zinc-oxide thin-film transistors gated by such proton conducting zeolite LTA films were fabricated by a simple self-assembled method. Due to the strong EDL capacitive coupling triggered by mobile protons in zeolite LTA, such transistors showed a low-voltage operation of 1.5 V and a high performance with a large field-effect mobility of 13 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ and a small subthreshold swing of 95 mV per decade. Furthermore, AND logic operation was also experimentally demonstrated on the dual in-plane-gate EDL transistors. Our results strongly indicate that zeolite LTA films are promising gate dielectric candidates for application in low-voltage and low-cost electronics, which greatly expands the application areas of zeolites.