title: Source-gated transistors for order-of-magnitude performance improvements in thin-film digital circuits.
abstract: Ultra-large-scale integrated (ULSI) circuits have benefited from successive refinements in device architecture for enormous improvements in speed, power efficiency and areal density. In large-area electronics (LAE), however, the basic building-block, the thin-film field-effect transistor (TFT) has largely remained static. Now, a device concept with fundamentally different operation, the source-gated transistor (SGT) opens the possibility of unprecedented functionality in future low-cost LAE. With its simple structure and operational characteristics of low saturation voltage, stability under electrical stress and large intrinsic gain, the SGT is ideally suited for LAE analog applications. Here, we show using measurements on polysilicon devices that these characteristics lead to substantial improvements in gain, noise margin, power-delay product and overall circuit robustness in digital SGT-based designs. These findings have far-reaching consequences, as LAE will form the technological basis for a variety of future developments in the biomedical, civil engineering, remote sensing, artificial skin areas, as well as wearable and ubiquitous computing, or lightweight applications for space exploration.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Sporea
authors.affiliation: MiPlaza, Philips Research, High Tech Campus 4, 5656 AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Trainor
authors.affiliation: Philips Research, 101 Cambridge Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 0FY, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: N D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Shannon
authors.affiliation: Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: S R P
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Silva