Short-Term Synaptic Plasticity Mimicked on Ionic/Electronic Hybrid Oxide Synaptic Transistor Gated by Nanogranular SiO2 Films

An indium–zinc-oxide (IZO) based ionic/electronic hybrid synaptic transistor gated by field-configurable nanogranular SiO2 films was reported. The devices exhibited a high current ON/OFF ratio of above 107, a high electron mobility of ∼14 cm2 V−1 s−1 and a low subthreshold swing of ∼80 mV/decade. The gate bias would modulate the interplay between protons and electrons at the channel/dielectric interface. Due to the dynamic modulation of the transient protons flux within the nanogranular SiO2 films, the channel current would be modified dynamically. Short-term synaptic plasticities, such as short-term potentiation and short-term depression, were mimicked on the proposed IZO synaptic transistor. The results indicate that the synaptic transistor proposed here has potential applications in future neuromorphic devices.