Low‐Energy Vertical Organic Synaptic Transistors Enabled by Siloxane Crosslinking‐Induced Edge‐On Molecular Ordering

ABSTRACT The von Neumann bottleneck has driven the development of low‐power neuromorphic devices such as vertical organic synaptic transistors (VOSTs), which offer ultrashort charge transport pathways and high integration density. However, their performance is still limited by poor molecular ordering and the difficulty in achieving effective gate‐controlled modulation. Here, a siloxane crosslinking strategy is proposed by incorporating 1,6‐bis(trichlorosilyl)hexane (C6Si) into poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) to form a dense cross‐linked network, enabling improved molecular ordering, backbone planarity, and interfacial stability. As a result, a pronounced edge‐on molecular orientation of 93.00% was achieved, establishing efficient vertical charge transport pathways. The ion gel‐gated VOSTs exhibited excellent electrical performance at an ultralow operation voltage (−0.5 V), including high on/off current ratio ( I on / I off ) (9.48 × 10 4 ), low subthreshold swing ( SS ) (111 mV dec −1 ), and the minimum synaptic‐event energy consumption at low level (∼50 aJ), along with rich synaptic plasticity. Ex‐situ neural network simulations demonstrate over 91% accuracy in MNIST handwritten digit recognition. Meanwhile, the device arrays enable high‐contrast image reconstruction and visual memory functions, providing an effective molecular design strategy for the development of low‐cost, scalable neuromorphic computing devices.

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Small
Published
2026-10-15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.76273
Primary Topic
Advanced Memory and Neural Computing
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Low‐Energy Vertical Organic Synaptic Transistors Enabled by Siloxane Crosslinking‐Induced Edge‐On Molecular Ordering

Junbiao Peng, Shuguang Zhang, Ruibin Liang, Linfeng Lan et al.
Small
Advanced Memory and Neural Computing
article

Low‐Energy Vertical Organic Synaptic Transistors Enabled by Siloxane Crosslinking‐Induced Edge‐On Molecular Ordering

Junbiao Peng, Shuguang Zhang, Ruibin Liang, Linfeng Lan, Jiale Huang, Yutian Liu, Bo Huang
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT The von Neumann bottleneck has driven the development of low‐power neuromorphic devices such as vertical organic synaptic transistors (VOSTs), which offer ultrashort charge transport pathways and high integration density. However, their performance is still limited by poor molecular ordering and the difficulty in achieving effective gate‐controlled modulation. Here, a siloxane crosslinking strategy is proposed by incorporating 1,6‐bis(trichlorosilyl)hexane (C6Si) into poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) to form a dense cross‐linked network, enabling improved molecular ordering, backbone planarity, and interfacial stability. As a result, a pronounced edge‐on molecular orientation of 93.00% was achieved, establishing efficient vertical charge transport pathways. The ion gel‐gated VOSTs exhibited excellent electrical performance at an ultralow operation voltage (−0.5 V), including high on/off current ratio ( I on / I off ) (9.48 × 10 4 ), low subthreshold swing ( SS ) (111 mV dec −1 ), and the minimum synaptic‐event energy consumption at low level (∼50 aJ), along with rich synaptic plasticity. Ex‐situ neural network simulations demonstrate over 91% accuracy in MNIST handwritten digit recognition. Meanwhile, the device arrays enable high‐contrast image reconstruction and visual memory functions, providing an effective molecular design strategy for the development of low‐cost, scalable neuromorphic computing devices.

Small
Guangzhou Panyu Polytechnic (CN), Guangzhou Institute of Advanced Technology (CN), Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University (CN), State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province
Openalex Percentile: Top 24%
Advanced Memory and Neural Computing
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