Perovskite Field-Effect Transistor Materials and Applications

Metal halide perovskites have emerged as a versatile class of semiconductor materials for field-effect transistors (FETs), driven by their solution processability, tunable electronic properties and potential for low-temperature fabrication. These materials adopt the ABX3 crystal structure, where A is an organic or inorganic cation, B is a metal such as lead or tin, and X is a halide. Both three-dimensional and layered two-dimensional perovskites have been explored in thin-film and single-crystal FET architectures. Key advantages include ambipolar charge transport, high absorption coefficients and the possibility of bandgap engineering through cation or halide substitution. Practical challenges remain in minimising ion migration, reducing hysteresis, controlling film microstructure and stabilising interfaces. Addressing these issues has led to improvements in carrier mobility, on/off current ratio and operational stability, unlocking applications in complementary logic circuits, phototransistors, light-emitting transistors and flexible electronics. Continued innovation in composition, crystallisation and device integration is extending the global impact of perovskite FETs towards printable and low-cost electronic systems.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have demonstrated high-performance tin perovskite thin-film transistors using a triple-cation approach. By combining caesium, formamidinium and phenethylammonium in ASnX3 films, researchers achieved hole mobilities exceeding 70 cm2 V−1 s−1 and on/off current ratios above 108, enabling complementary inverters and logic gates when paired with n-type oxide transistors. Advances in inorganic perovskite channels have been reported using caesium tin triiodide layers with tin-fluoride-modified precursors; these p-channel devices exhibit field-effect mobilities over 50 cm2 V−1 s−1, on/off ratios exceeding 108 and enhanced operational stability. In parallel, halide anion engineering of methylammonium tin iodide films has produced p-channel transistors with negligible hysteresis, hole mobilities around 20 cm2 V−1 s−1 and threshold voltages near zero. Integration with commercial n-channel devices on a single chip has yielded high-gain complementary inverters, marking a significant step towards printable electronic circuits.

Perovskite Field-Effect Transistor Materials and Applications publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in perovskite field-effect transistor materials and applications across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Perovskite: A crystal structure of general formula ABX3, where A and B are cations and X is an anion, often a halide in hybrid materials.

Field-effect transistor (FET): A device in which an electric field applied to a gate electrode modulates the conductivity of a semiconductor channel between source and drain contacts.

Ambipolar transport: The ability of a semiconductor channel to conduct both electrons and holes under appropriate gate bias.

Carrier mobility: A measure of how quickly charge carriers (electrons or holes) can move through a semiconductor under an electric field.

Hysteresis: A lag in the electrical response of a transistor due to effects such as ion migration or trap states, often seen in the gate voltage sweep.

Ion migration: The movement of mobile ions within a perovskite layer under an electric field, leading to instability or hysteresis in device performance.

References

1. Tin perovskite transistors and complementary circuits based on A-site cation engineering. Nature Electronics (2023).
2. High-performance inorganic metal halide perovskite transistors. Nature Electronics (2022).
3. High-performance hysteresis-free perovskite transistors through anion engineering. Nature Communications (2022).
4. Odd–Even Alkyl Chain Effects on the Structure and Charge Carrier Transport of Two-Dimensional Sn-Based Perovskite Semiconductors. Journal of the American Chemical Society (2024).
5. Grain engineering for improved charge carrier transport in two-dimensional lead-free perovskite field-effect transistors. Materials Horizons (2022).
6. A hysteresis-free perovskite transistor with exceptional stability through molecular cross-linking and amine-based surface passivation. Nanoscale (2020).