Polymorphic Memtransistor with Tunable Metallic and Semiconducting Channel.

Modulating semiconducting channel potential has been used for electrical switching in transistors without biological plasticity operations that are critical for energy-efficient neuromorphic computing. To achieve efficient data processing, alternative transport mechanisms, such as tunneling and thermionic emission, have been introduced with two-dimensional materials. Here, we report on a polymorphic memtransistor based on atomically-thin Mo 0.91 W 0.09 Te 2 , where the lattice and electronic structures of the lateral device channel can be tuned as either metallic (1T') or semiconducting (2H) phases by electrical gating. The structural and electronic phase change of the channel material, optimized in Mo 0.91 W 0.09 Te 2 , was explored using transport and optical measurements at the device scale. Based on the phase transition, our polymorphic memtransistor demonstrates a high on/off ratio (up to 10 5 ), low subthreshold swing (down to 80 mV/dec), and various memristive behaviors, which are distinguished from traditional phase change memory, transistors, and passive memristors for diverse neuromorphic and in-memory computing. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.