Summary
Electronic systems integrate semiconductor devices, specialised sensors and digital logic to monitor, process and act upon information from the physical world. At their core lie transistors and interconnect schemes fabricated in complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) processes, which underpin digital processors, memory arrays and mixed-signal interfaces. Sensors bridge the gap between real-world phenomena—light, pressure, temperature, motion and chemical concentrations—and electronic circuits by transducing physical inputs into electrical signals. These signals are then conditioned by front-end amplifiers or digitised by analogue-to-digital converters before entering digital-signal-processing engines and control units. Advances in materials, device architectures and fabrication have given rise to flexible thin-film transistors for conformal electronics, wide-bandgap sensors for extreme environments, and heterogeneous integration of logic, memory and sensors on a single chip. Together, these developments enable smart wearables, autonomous vehicles, industrial-scale Internet-of-Things networks and high-throughput data centres.
Research from Nature Portfolio
A universal multi-project-wafer foundry model has been established for flexible thin-film electronics, demonstrating wafer-scale production of both amorphous indium–gallium–zinc oxide and low-temperature polycrystalline silicon transistors on flexible substrates. By implementing a full 6502 microprocessor design in both platforms, this work paves the way for large-area flexible logic circuits that can be manufactured on demand without bespoke process development.
Hydrogenated polycrystalline indium oxide channels formed by low-temperature solid-phase crystallisation have achieved field-effect mobilities exceeding 130 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ and subthreshold swings below 0.2 V decade⁻¹. These transparent, flexible thin-film transistors operate at temperatures below 300 °C and require no exotic equipment, offering a scalable route to integrated display, sensing and memory functionalities in flexible electronics.
Atomic-layer-deposited zinc oxide transistors with record field-effect and intrinsic mobilities (85/140 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹) have been co-integrated with resistive memory elements in back-end-of-line circuits. Monolithic 3D integration of high-performance ZnO transistors and HfO₂ resistive random-access-memory (RRAM) arrays demonstrates a path towards high-density, low-temperature process flows for next-generation monolithic memory-logic fabrics.
Topic trend for the past 5 years
The graph below shows the article count in Nature Index journals for electronics, sensors and digital hardware.
* The ‘Current Index’ represents data for a 12-month rolling window, the current window is 1 May 2025 - 30 April 2026.
Technical terms
Thin-film transistor (TFT): A field-effect device in which the semiconductor channel is deposited as a thin film on a substrate, enabling large-area and flexible electronics.
Back-end-of-line (BEOL): The process stages following transistor formation, involving metal interconnects, dielectrics and passive elements, typically constrained to low temperatures.
Field-effect mobility: The carrier drift velocity per unit electric field in a transistor channel, determining drive current and switching performance.
Capacitive sensor: A transducer that infers changes in physical quantities by measuring variations in capacitance between electrodes.
Isolation amplifier: An amplifier that provides galvanic separation between its input and output, allowing precise excitation and measurement of grounded or floating sensors.
Notable articles in electronics, sensors and digital hardware
- Multi-project wafers for flexible thin-film electronics by independent foundries. Nature (2024).
- High-mobility hydrogenated polycrystalline In2O3 (In2O3:H) thin-film transistors. Nature Communications (2022).
- CMOS backend-of-line compatible memory array and logic circuitries enabled by high performance atomic layer deposited ZnO thin-film transistor. Nature Communications (2023).
About these summaries
This Nature Research Intelligence Topic summary is created with the cited references and a large language model. We take care to ground generated text with facts, and have systems in place to gain human feedback on the overall quality of the process in line with our AI principles. We strive to create accurate and useful summaries for people unfamiliar with the research topic and that supports this goal. These pages are a beta release and will be updated as we learn how best to help people gain value from a research topic summary.
Research
Position of Electronics, Sensors and Digital Hardware in Nature Index by Count
Leading institutions
| Institution | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) | 253 | 70.63 |
| University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) | 98 | 29.75 |
| Soochow University | 61 | 26.02 |
| Zhejiang University (ZJU) | 61 | 25.08 |
| Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) | 67 | 24.7 |
| Nanjing University (NJU) | 46 | 23.15 |
| University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) | 101 | 22.26 |
| Nankai University (NKU) | 46 | 21.8 |
| Peking University (PKU) | 93 | 20.54 |
| South China University of Technology (SCUT) | 42 | 18.04 |
Collaboration
Top 5 leading collaborators in Electronics, Sensors and Digital Hardware
Collaborating institutions
Note: Hover over the bars to view details about each institution's Share.
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