Inkjet-Printed Ternary Inverter Circuits with Tunable Middle Logic Voltages

A multi-valued logic (MVL) technology is considered to be a promising way to improve data processing capabilities with higher bit density. Unique negative transconductance characteristics in van der Waals (vdW) p-n heterojunction-based devices enabled recent demonstrations of MVL circuits. Herein, inkjet-printed ternary inverters are presented for the first time by connecting anti-ambipolar transistors, based on indium oxide/single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) heterojunctions, and SWCNT transistors. Inkjet printing allows systematic control of anti-ambipolar transistor characteristics by forming vdW heterojunctions reliably. The anti-ambipolar transistor characteristics are widely tuned by simply changing the number of SWCNT printing in heterojunction channels. Tunable middle logic voltages in ternary inverters are achieved by using the changes in anti-ambipolar transistor characteristics. This work provides a guideline for tuning device characteristics of anti-ambipolar transistors and ternary inverters.