A type of piezotronic transistor based on channel width modulation to directly respond to normal force

Developing logic gates through mechanical modulation is important to realize the complex functionality in artificial intelligence, artificial neural network and human-machine interface etc. In this work, we put forward a kind of mechanical transistor based on piezotronic effect (MPT) with three-terminal structure (source and drain at two sides of semiconductor film, and the top gate electrode forming Schottky contact with semiconductor). Different from the past piezotronic devices, it works based on the channel width regulation by the piezoelectric charges at the interface between top electrode and semiconductor below under external stimuli, has the potential to realize both low power consumption and high-speed logic operations, and has the advantage to directly detect the out-of-plane normal force and pressure. The MPT benefits to developing various mechanical logic gates to endow more powerful ability in many fields such as intelligent human-machine interface etc.