Dual-gated single-molecule field-effect transistors beyond Moore's law

As conventional silicon-based transistors are fast approaching the physical limit, it is essential to seek alternative candidates, which should be compatible with or even replace microelectronics in the future. Here, we report a robust solid-state single-molecule field-effect transistor architecture using graphene source/drain electrodes and a metal back-gate electrode. The transistor is constructed by a single dinuclear ruthenium-diarylethene (Ru-DAE) complex, acting as the conducting channel, connecting covalently with nanogapped graphene electrodes, providing field-effect behaviors with a maximum on/off ratio exceeding three orders of magnitude. Use of ultrathin high-k metal oxides as the dielectric layers is key in successfully achieving such a high performance. Additionally, Ru-DAE preserves its intrinsic photoisomerisation property, which enables a reversible photoswitching function. Both experimental and theoretical results demonstrate these distinct dual-gated behaviors consistently at the single-molecule level, which helps to develop the different technology for creation of practical ultraminiaturised functional electrical circuits beyond Moore's law.

Linan Meng, Na Xin, Chen Hu, Hassan Al Sabea, Miao Zhang, Hongyu Jiang, Yiru Ji, Chuancheng Jia, Zhuang Yan, Qinghua Zhang, Lin Gu, Xiaoyan He, Pramila Selvanathan, Lucie Norel, Stéphane Rigaut, Hong Guo, Sheng Meng, Xuefeng Guo