Controlling the Electrical Properties of Organic Electronics: a Path Towards Low-Power Printed Electronics

Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) have emerged as a promising new class of organic electronics with applications in chemical and biological sensing, bio-interfacing, printed electronics and neuromorphic computing. Their low-voltage operation is particularly important in power-sensitive applications like wearable devices, remote sensing platforms, smart packaging, and other internet-of-things applications. Despite their low-voltage operation, the implementation of reliable low-power circuits based on OECTs is hindered by the lack of methods for easily tuning their threshold voltage. Tuning the threshold voltage of OECTs would allow the power consumption of complementary circuits to be minimized by matching the threshold voltages of the p and n-type transistors. Furthermore, it would allow the noise margin of digital circuits based on OECTs to be optimized, thus improving device reliability. This presentation will show that the threshold voltage of OECTs can be varied by ~0.8 V, and how this tunability enables their integration in low-power printed electronics. We will also show how the approach can be extended to create OECTs with dynamic threshold voltages that are sensitive to environmental stimuli, which opens new opportunities in chemical and biological sensing and control.