Monolithic integration of vertical electrochemical transistors

A vertically stacked complementary inverter comprising:

• a first electrode;
• a second electrode;
• a first organic film between the first electrode and the second electrode, the first organic film comprising an ionically conducting semiconductor channel region embedded in an ionically conducting electrically insulating out-of-channel region, wherein the ionically conducting semiconductor channel region forms a semiconductor channel between the first electrode and the second electrode, and further wherein the ionically conducting semiconductor channel region comprises an n-type conjugated organic semiconductor and the ionically conducting electrically insulating out-of-channel region comprises the n-type organic semiconductor in a partially or fully deconjugated form;
• a third electrode;
• a second organic film between the second electrode and the third electrode, the second organic film comprising an ionically conducting semiconductor channel region embedded in an ionically conducting electrically insulating out-of-channel region, wherein the ionically conducting semiconductor channel region forms a semiconductor channel between the second electrode and the third electrode, and further wherein the ionically conducting semiconductor channel region comprises a p-type conjugated organic semiconductor and the ionically conducting electrically insulating out-of-channel region comprises the p-type organic semiconductor in a partially or fully deconjugated form;
• an electrolyte in contact with the first organic film and the second organic film;
• and
• a gate electrode in contact with the electrolyte.

A method of fabricating a vertical organic electrochemical transistor in an ionically conducting organic semiconductor film, the method comprising:

• forming a first electrode on a substrate;
• forming an organic film comprising an ionically conducting conjugated organic semiconductor over the first electrode;
• exposing an area of the organic film to an electron-beam, the exposed area surrounding an unexposed area of the organic film, whereby the ionically conducting organic semiconductor in the exposed area of the organic film is converted into an ionically conducting electrical insulator by the deconjugation of the ionically conducting conjugated organic semiconductor;
• forming a second electrode over the unexposed area of the organic film;
• placing an electrolyte in contact with the organic film;
• and
• placing a gate electrode in contact with the electrolyte.