We report high-performance ZnO thin-film transistor (ZnO-TFT) fabricated by rf magnetron sputtering at room temperature with a bottom gate configuration. The ZnO-TFT operates in the enhancement mode with a threshold voltage of $19\mathrm{V}$ , a saturation mobility of $27{\mathrm{cm}}^2∕\mathrm{V}\mathrm{s}$ , a gate voltage swing of $1.39\mathrm{V}∕\text{decade}$ and an on/off ratio of $3\times {10}^5$ . The ZnO-TFT presents an average optical transmission (including the glass substrate) of 80% in the visible part of the spectrum. The combination of transparency, high mobility, and room-temperature processing makes the ZnO-TFT a very promising low-cost optoelectronic device for the next generation of invisible and flexible electronics.

Human health, environmental protection and safety are just a few examples of humankind’s current main concerns, that drive the scientific community to develop sensors able to monitor precisely and provide alerts of possible harm in real time. Over the years, semiconductor metal oxide-based materials have been extensively employed as sensors in several applications. They are of particular interest at the nanometer scale, since it is widely known that a smaller crystallite size enhances a sensor’s performance. Moreover, these materials are highly appealing as they can be produced by low-cost wet-chemical synthesis routes and are in general nontoxic, earth abundant and low cost. This manuscript extensively reviews the recent developments of nanostructured semiconductor metal oxide sensors ranging from gas to humidity sensors, including ultraviolet sensors and biosensors. Sensors based on zinc oxide (ZnO), titanium dioxide (TiO ₂ ), tungsten trioxide (WO ₃ ), copper oxide (CuO and Cu ₂ O), tin oxide (SnO and SnO ₂ ) and vanadium oxide (VO ₂ and V ₂ O ₅ ), either as nanoparticles or as continuous films or layers, are described. Their sensing properties are correlated to size, shape, presence of defects and doping elements, amongst other relevant parameters. Various techniques and methods of fabricating these materials are addressed. The review concludes with novel approaches for functionalization and future perspectives for sensor developments.

In this paper we demonstrate the use of amorphous binary In₂O₃–ZnO oxides simultaneously as active channel layer and as source/drain regions in transparent thin film transistor (TTFT), processed at room temperature by rf sputtering. The TTFTs operate in the enhancement mode and their performances are thickness dependent. The best TTFTs exhibit saturation mobilities higher than 10² cm²/Vs, threshold voltages lower than 6 V, gate voltage swing of 0.8 V/dec and an on/off current ratio of 10⁷. This mobility is at least two orders of magnitude higher than that of conventional amorphous silicon TFTs and comparable to or even better than other polycrystalline semiconductors.