Sputtered Oxide Thin-Film Transistors With Tunable Synaptic Spiking Behavior at 1 V

Indium–gallium–zinc-oxide (IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) gated with sputtered silicon dioxide dielectric were fabricated. Under different sputtering pressures of silicon dioxide, the device is able to produce transfer curves from clockwise hysteresis to anticlockwise hysteresis, corresponding to different operation modes and thus adding complementary performance by the same material system and device structure. In the interface trapping mode, the transistor exhibited inhibitory synaptic spiking behavior induced by positive stimuli. In the electric double-layer coupling mode, positive stimuli led to excitatory synaptic spiking behavior, while negative stimuli resulted in inhibitory synaptic spiking behavior. All the transistor and synaptic spiking behaviors are conducted within ±1 V range. Enriched functionality and ultralow operation voltage make sputtered SiO2-gated IGZO TFTs promising candidate for neuromorphic applications.