Low-thermal-budget solution-processed montmorillonite dielectric for low-voltage 2D electronics

Abstract Low-voltage and high-performance electronic devices based on two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors demand high-quality dielectrics with efficient capacitive gating. However, it currently relies on specially engineered atomic layer deposition (ALD) of ultrathin high- k HfO 2 and ZrO 2 , or high-temperature vapor-phase growth of 2D dielectrics with post-growth transfer process. Here, we report a facile solution-processed 2D dielectric with an ultra-low thermal budget (i.e., at room temperature), while delivering competitive device metrics (e.g., low operating voltage and small hysteresis). This is enabled by an organic-free colloidal ink of montmorillonite (MTM) in environmentally friendly water solvent, eliminating the need for organic ligands or surfactants and thus the post-deposition high-temperature thermal annealing. Specifically, all-solution-processed MoS 2 field-effect transistors with MTM dielectric exhibit a low operating voltage of 1 V and small hysteresis (down to 1 mV). The solution process is generally compatible with diverse n-type and p-type 2D semiconductors such as MoS 2 , MoSe 2 and WSe 2 . Moreover, the robust and reproducible MTM dielectric enables scalable device integration into logic circuits, including inverters, AND, NOR, and NAND gates, as well as static random-access memory (SRAM). The scalable room-temperature solution-processed 2D dielectric offers a route to all-solution-processed and low-voltage 2D electronics.