Synaptic Emulation via Ferroelectric P(VDF-TrFE) Reinforced Charge Trapping/Detrapping in Zinc–Tin Oxide Transistor

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 14; no. 14; pp. 16939 - 16948
• Main Authors: Shen, Ching-Kang, Chaurasiya, Rajneesh, Chen, Kuan-Ting, Chen, Jen-Sue
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 13.04.2022
• Subjects: Surfaces, Interfaces, and Applications; ferroelectric; artificial neural network; thin film transistor; polarization; synapse; neuromorphic computing
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c03066

Brain inspired artificial synapses are highly desirable for neuromorphic computing and are an alternative to a conventional computing system. Here, we report a simple and cost-effective ferroelectric capacitively coupled zinc–tin oxide (ZTO) thin-film transistor (TFT) topped with ferroelectric copolymer poly­(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) (P­(VDF-TrFE)) for artificial synaptic devices. Ferroelectric dipoles enhance the charge trapping/detrapping effect in ZTO TFT, as confirmed by the transfer curve (I D–V G) analysis. This substantiates superior artificial synapse responses in ferroelectric-coupled ZTO TFT because the current potentiation and depression are individually improved. The ferroelectric-coupled ZTO TFT successfully emulates the essential features of the artificial synapse, including pair-pulsed facilitation (PPF) and potentiation/depression (P/D) characteristics. In addition, the device also mimics the memory consolidation behavior through intensified stimulation. This work demonstrates that the ferroelectric-coupled ZTO synaptic transistor possesses great potential as a hardware candidate for neuromorphic computing.