MXene based saturation organic vertical photoelectric transistors with low subthreshold swing

The modulation of Schottky barrier, which dominates the carrier injection in vertical organic field-effect transistors, strongly depends on the source electrode. Here, Chen et al. utilize MXene as a source electrode, achieving a subthreshold swing down to 73 mv/dec and a large gate control ability. Vertical transistors have attracted enormous attention in the next-generation electronic devices due to their high working frequency, low operation voltage and large current density, while a major scientific and technological challenge for high performance vertical transistor is to find suitable source electrode. Herein, an MXene material, Ti3C2Tx, is introduced as source electrode of organic vertical transistors. The porous MXene films take the advantage of both partially shielding effect of graphene and the direct modulation of the Schottky barrier at the mesh electrode, which significantly enhances the ability of gate modulation and reduces the subthreshold swing to 73 mV/dec. More importantly, the saturation of output current which is essential for all transistor-based applications but remains a great challenge for vertical transistors, is easily achieved in our device due to the ultra-thin thickness and native oxidation of MXene, as verified by finite-element simulations. Finally, our device also possesses great potential for being used as wide-spectrum photodetector with fast response speed without complex material and structure design. This work demonstrates that MXene as source electrode offers plenty of opportunities for high performance vertical transistors and photoelectric devices.

Automated summary

By utilizing MXene as the source electrode, the modulation of Schottky barrier in vertical organic field-effect transistors is significantly enhanced, leading to a decrease in subthreshold swing and achievement of output current saturation. This technology also shows potential for applications in optical devices.