Evaporated tellurium thin films for p-type field-effect transistors and circuits

Tellurium thin films thermally evaporated at cryogenic temperatures enable the fabrication of high-performance wafer-scale p-type field-effect transistors and three-dimensional circuits. There is an emerging need for semiconductors that can be processed at near ambient temperature with high mobility and device performance. Although multiple n-type options have been identified, the development of their p-type counterparts remains limited. Here, we report the realization of tellurium thin films through thermal evaporation at cryogenic temperatures for fabrication of high-performance wafer-scale p-type field-effect transistors. We achieve an effective hole mobility of ~35 cm(2 )V(-1 )s(-1), on/off current ratio of ~10(4) and subthreshold swing of 108 mV dec(-1) on an 8-nm-thick film. High-performance tellurium p-type field-effect transistors are fabricated on a wide range of substrates including glass and plastic, further demonstrating the broad applicability of this material. Significantly, three-dimensional circuits are demonstrated by integrating multi-layered transistors on a single chip using sequential lithography, deposition and lift-off processes. Finally, various functional logic gates and circuits are demonstrated.