Ionic-Liquid Gating of InAs Nanowire-Based Field-Effect Transistors

Abstract

Here, the operation of a field-effect transistor based on a single InAs nanowire gated by an ionic liquid is reported. Liquid gating yields very efficient carrier modulation with a transconductance value 30 times larger than standard back gating with the SiO₂/Si₊₊ substrate. Thanks to this wide modulation, the controlled evolution from semiconductor to metallic-like behavior in the nanowire is shown. This work provides the first systematic study of ionic-liquid gating in electronic devices based on individual III–V semiconductor nanowires: this architecture opens the way to a wide range of fundamental and applied studies from the phase transitions to bioelectronics.