Recent Progress on ZnO-Based Metal-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors and Their Application in Transparent Integrated Circuits

Metal-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MESFETs) are widely known from opaque high-speed GaAs or high-power SiC and GaN tech- nology. For the emerging field of transparent electronics, only metal- insulator-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MISFETs) were considered so far. This article reviews the progress of high-performance MESFETs in oxide electronics and reflects the recent advances of this technique towards transparent MESFET circuitry. We discuss design prospects as well as limita- tions regarding device performance, reliability and stability. The presented ZnO-based MESFETs and inverters have superior properties compared to MISFETs, i.e., high channel mobilities and on/off-ratios, high gain, and low uncertainty level at comparatively low operating voltages. This makes them a promising approach for future low-cost transparent electronics.