DRESDEN, GERMANY – Researchers at Nanoelectronic Materials Laboratory (NamLab) have developed a dopant-free transistor that could eventually be used in printable electronics.

The device is based on silicon nanowires with dimensions up to 3 nm and is capable of being produced using an inkjet process, says Walter Weber, a researcher at NamLab. It has two gate electrodes and is controlled largely by the injection of charge carriers through Schottky contacts.

Electric fields give the transistor its switching characteristics, similar to a field effect transistor.

The researchers call the device “FET with tunable polarity.” At this stage of development, it is a demonstrator with simple inverter functionality. Industrial use could be realized in five years.

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