Systematic Control of Negative Transconductance in Organic Heterojunction Transistor for High-Performance, Low-Power Flexible Ternary Logic Circuits

Organic multi-valued logic (MVL) circuits can substantially improve the data processing efficiency in highly advanced wearable electronics. Organic ternary logic circuits can be implemented by utilizing the negative transconductance (NTC) of heterojunction transistors (H-TRs). To achieve high-performance organic ternary logic circuits, the range of NTC in H-TRs must be optimized in advance to ensure the well-defined intermediate logic state in ternary logic inverters (T-inverters). Herein, a simple and efficient strategy, which enables the systematic control of the range and position of NTC in H-TRs is presented. Each thickness of p-/n-type semiconductor in H-TRs is adjusted to control the channel conductivity. Furthermore, asymmetric source/drain (S/D) electrode structure is newly developed for H-TRs, which can adjust the amount of hole and electron injection, independently. Based on the semiconductor thickness variation and asymmetric S/D electrodes, the T-inverter exhibits full-swing operation with three distinguishable logic states, resulting in unprecedentedly high static noise margin (approximate to 48% of the ideal value). Moreover, a flexible T-inverter with an ultrathin polymer dielectric is demonstrated, whose operating voltage is less than 8 V. The proposed strategy is fully compatible with the conventional integrated circuit design, which is highly desirable for broad applicability and scalability for various types of T-inverter production.

Automated summary

Organic multi-valued logic circuits can improve data processing efficiency in wearable electronics. By adjusting the semiconductor thickness and using asymmetric source/drain electrode structure in H-TRs, high-performance organic ternary logic circuits can be achieved with unprecedentedly high static noise margin.