A Suspended Silicon Single-Hole Transistor as an Extremely Scaled Gigahertz Nanoelectromechanical Beam Resonator

Suspended single-hole transistors (SHTs) can also serve as nanoelectromechanical resonators, providing an ideal platform for investigating interactions between mechanical vibrations and charge carriers. Demonstrating such a device in silicon (Si) is of particular interest, due to the strong piezoresistive effect of Si and potential applications in Si-based quantum computation. Here, a suspended Si SHT also acting as a nanoelectromechanical beam resonator is demonstrated. The resonant frequency and zero-point motion of the device are ≈3 GHz and 0.2 pm, respectively, reaching the best level among similar devices demonstrated with Si-containing materials. The mechanical vibration is transduced to electrical readout by the SHT. The signal transduction mechanism is dominated by the piezoresistive effect. A giant apparent effective piezoresistive gauge factor with strong correlation to single-hole tunneling is extracted in this device. The results show the great potential of the device in interfacing charge carriers with mechanical vibrations, as well as investigating potential quantum behavior of the vibration phonon mode.     

WSe2 Homojunction Devices: Electrostatically Configurable as Diodes,MOSFETs, and Tunnel FETs for Reconfigurable Computing

In this paper, electrostatically configurable 2D tungsten diselenide (WSe₂) electronic devices are demonstrated. Utilizing a novel triple‐gate design, a WSe₂ device is able to operate as a tunneling field‐effect transistor (TFET), a metal–oxide–semiconductor field‐effect transistor (MOSFET) as well as a diode, by electrostatically tuning the channel doping to the desired profile. The implementation of scaled gate dielectric and gate electrode spacing enables higher band‐to‐band tunneling transmission with the best observed subthreshold swing (SS) among all reported homojunction TFETs on 2D materials. Self‐consistent full‐band atomistic quantum transport simulations quantitatively agree with electrical measurements of both the MOSFET and TFET and suggest that scaling gate oxide below 3 nm is necessary to achieve sub‐60 mV dec^?1 SS, while further improvement can be obtained by optimizing the spacers. Diode operation is also demonstrated with the best ideality factor of 1.5, owing to the enhanced electrostatic control compared to previous reports. This research sheds light on the potential of utilizing electrostatic doping scheme for low‐power electronics and opens a path toward novel designs of field programmable mixed analog/digital circuitry for reconfigurable computing.     

Carbon nanotube-DNA nanoarchitectures and electronic functionality

Biological molecules such as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) possess inherent recognition and self-assembly capabilities, and are attractive templates for constructing functional hierarchical material structures as building blocks for nanoelectronics. Here we report the assembly and electronic functionality of nanoarchitectures based on conjugates of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) functionalized with carboxylic groups and single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) sequences possessing terminal amino groups on both ends, hybridized together through amide linkages by adopting a straightforward synthetic route. Morphological and chemical-functional characterization of the nanoarchitectures are investigated using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Electrical measurements (I-V characterization) of the nanoarchitectures demonstrate negative differential resistance in the presence of SWNT/ssDNA interfaces, which indicates a biomimetic route to fabricating resonant tunneling diodes. I-V characterization on platinum-metallized SWNT-ssDNA nanoarchitectures via salt reduction indicates modulation of their electrical properties, with effects ranging from those of a resonant tunneling diode to a resistor, depending on the amount of metallization. Electron transport through the nanoarchitectures has been analyzed by density functional theory calculations. Our studies illustrate the great promise of biomimetic assembly of functional nanosystems based on biotemplated materials and present new avenues toward exciting future opportunities in nanoelectronics and nanobiotechnology.     

新工艺生长的InGaN量子点的结构与电学性质研究

利用金属有机化学气相沉积（MOCVD）技术，采用一种称为低温钝化的新生和方法成功地生长出多层InGaN/GaN量子点。这种方法是对GaN表面进行钝化并在低温下生长，从而增加表面吸附原子的迁移势垒。采用原子力显微镜清楚地观察到该方法生长的样品中岛状的量子点。从量子点样品的I-V特性曲线观察到了共振隧穿引起的负阻效应，其中的锯齿状峰形归因于零维量子点的共振隧穿。     

Interface effects in spin-dependent tunneling

In the past few years the phenomenon of spin-dependent tunneling (SDT) in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) has aroused enormous interest and has developed into a vigorous field of research. The large tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) observed in MTJs garnered much attention due to possible application in random access memories and magnetic field sensors. This led to a number of fundamental questions regarding the phenomenon of SDT. One such question is the role of interfaces in MTJs and their effect on the spin polarization of the tunneling current and TMR. In this paper we consider different models which suggest that the spin polarization is primarily determined by the electronic and atomic structure of the ferromagnet/insulator interfaces rather than by their bulk properties. First, we consider a simple tight-binding model which demonstrates that the existence of interface states and their contribution to the tunneling current depend on the degree of hybridization between the orbitals on metal and insulator atoms. The decisive role of the interfaces is further supported by studies of spin-dependent tunneling within realistic first-principles models of Co/vacuum/Al, Co/Al₂O₃/Co, Fe/MgO/Fe, and Co/SrTiO₃/Co MTJs. We find that variations in the atomic potentials and bonding strength near the interfaces have a profound effect resulting in the formation of interface resonant states, which dramatically affect the spin polarization and TMR. The strong sensitivity of the tunneling spin polarization and TMR to the interface atomic and electronic structure dramatically expands the possibilities for engineering optimal MTJ properties for device applications.     

Electronic structure calculations for Si/Si1−xGex multi-quantum well devices

We present a numerical simulation of the conduction-band diagram of a resonant tunneling diode in the Si/Si_1−xGe_x system by solving self-consistently Schrödinger and Poisson equations with and without an applied electric field. An analysis of the Stark effect was made in the investigated heterostructure. A particular attention has been paid to the effect of temperature on the electronic behaviour of the modelled heterostructure. We also present calculation of electric field-dependent interband transitions in the Si/Si_1−xGe_x resonant tunneling heterostructure.     

Nanoscale ferroelectric field-effect writing and reading using scanning tunnelling spectroscopy

Control of the density of mobile charge carriers using electric fields is widely used in a variety of metal-insulator-semiconductor structures and is the governing principle behind the operation of field-effect transistors. Ferroelectric materials possessing a switchable and non-volatile polarization field can be used as insulating layers, revealing new opportunities for device applications. Advances in material processing and in particular complex oxide thin-film growth mean that high-quality field-effect devices can be based on ferroelectric/metallic oxide heterostructures. In addition, advances in local probe techniques such as atomic force microscopy allow them to be used in the imaging and study of small ferroelectric domain structures in bulk crystals and thin films. Meanwhile, scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy have established themselves as powerful techniques for atomic manipulation and nanometre-resolution electron tunnelling spectroscopy. Here, a scanning tunnelling microscope is used to investigate the ferroelectric field effect in all-perovskite heterostructures. Scanning tunnelling spectroscopy allows us to probe the local electronic properties of the polarized channel of a ferroelectric field-effect device as a function of the field orientation. This technique can be used to read and write ferroelectric field-induced regions with a size as low as 20 nm.     

Moiré-Pattern Modulated Electronic Structures of GaSe/HOPG Heterostructure

Conventional two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) typically occurs at the interface of semiconductor heterostructures and noble metal surfaces, but it is scarcely observed in individual 2D semiconductors. In this study, few-layer gallium selenide (GaSe) grown on highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) is demonstrated using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/STS), revealing that the coexistence of quantum well states (QWS) and 2DEG. The QWS are located in the valence bands and exhibit a peak feature, with the number of quantum wells being equal to the number of atomic layers. Meanwhile, the 2DEG is located in the conduction bands and exhibits a standing-wave feature. Additionally, monolayer GaSe/HOPG heterostructures with different stacking angles (0°, 33°, 8°) form distinct moiré patterns that arise from lattice mismatch and angular rotation between adjacent atomic layers in 2D materials, which effectively modulate the electron effective mass, charge redistribution, and band gap of GaSe. Overall, this work reveals a paradigm of band engineering based on layer numbers and moiré patterns that can modulate the electronic properties of 2D materials.     

Various and Tunable Transport Properties of WSe2 Transistor Formed by Metal Contacts

The abundant electronic and optical properties of 2D materials that are just one‐atom thick pave the way for many novel electronic applications. One important application is to explore the band‐to‐band tunneling in the heterojunction built by different 2D materials. Here, a gate‐controlled WSe₂ transistor is constructed by using different work function metals to form the drain (Pt) and source (Cr) electrodes. The device can be gate‐modulated to exhibit three modes of operation, i.e., the tunneling mode with remarkable negative differential resistance, the transition mode with a second electron tunneling phenomenon for backward bias, and finally the conventional diode mode with rectifying characteristics. In contrast to the heterojunctions built by different 2D materials, these devices show significantly enhanced tunneling current by two orders of magnitude, which may largely benefit from the clean interfaces. These results pave the way toward design of novel electronic devices using the modulation of metal work functions.     

Spin Manipulation Using Magnetic II–VI Semiconductors

Recently, efficient spin injection, being the first step towards semiconductor spin electronics, by using BeMnZnSe as a spin filter was accomplished. Such a spin filter made it possible to align the spin orientation of conduction electrons and subsequently inject them into GaAs. However, controlling spin orientation of conduction electrons by an external voltage would be very desirable for semiconductor-based magnetoelectronics. This can be accomplished by using spin switch structures, based on resonant tunneling through magnetic quantum wells, with two separate spin-up and spin-down resonances. Here we summarize both our recent results on spin injection as well as on spin aligner and magnetic resonant tunneling structures. For accomplishing the latter, we have developed magnetic resonant tunneling diodes based on BeTe–ZnMnSe–BeTe structures. Resonant tunneling diode is meant to serve as a spin switch because of the existence of two separate spin-up and spin-down resonances. The tunneling carriers have subsequently been injected into a nonmagnetic GaAs p–i–n light emitting diode. Circular polarization of the emitted light is an indicator of the spin polarization of injected electrons. At constant magnetic field and current, degree of spin polarization could be changed from 81% to 38% by only varying the voltage across the magnetic resonant tunneling device.     

Motion Characterizations of Lateral Micromachined Sensor Based on Stroboscopic Measurements

In this paper, we illustrate the capabilities of the Planar Motion Analyzer (PMA) with a study of the dynamic behavior of a micromachined structure. Dynamic characterizations and measurement settings are also demonstrated. The optical measurement system uses the light-emitting diode (LED) based vibration measurement technique for imaging, and then measuring the lateral resonant frequency and sensor displacements, as well. The PMA analyzes in-plane vibrations of a MEMS device under a clear microscope. Its working principle is based on the stroboscopic principle. Based on this principle, characterization results in both time and frequency domains can be accurately generated and analyzed. Our device example for the measurement is a tunneling-based micro-resonator, which was fabricated using the Backside Released SOI process. The tunneling behavior of the sensor can be observed by controlling the motion of the tunneling tip towards the opposing electrode with a typical gap of 10 Aring. This very small gap can be easily achieved by the Bode measurement of PMA for shifting the LED-strobe flashes at a small increment of phase angle over the whole motion of the sensor. In other words, smaller motions of the tip will be easily achieved, when the number of shots per period are larger. For our tunneling measurement, the phase angle shift is 0.5deg with 720 shots per period. The lateral moving proof mass is suspended by the folded springs, and its tip protrudes to an opposing electrode by means of electrostatic forces. The tunneling current has been observed to be exponentially increasing, when the tunneling gap is decreasing. However, the further large current is actually a contacting current, when the mechanical contact happens between the tunneling tip and the opposing electrode. The resonant frequency of the device is ~5 kHz obtained from the Bode measurement     

Freestanding Borophene and Its Hybrids

Borophene, an elemental metallic Dirac material is predicted to have unprecedented mechanical and electronic character. Need of substrate and ultrahigh vacuum conditions for deposition of borophene restricts its large‐scale applications and significantly hampers the advancement of research on borophene. Herein, a facile and large‐scale synthesis of freestanding atomic sheets of borophene through a novel liquid‐phase exfoliation and the reduction of borophene oxide is demonstrated. Electron microscopy confirms the presence of β₁₂, X₃, and their intermediate phases of borophene; X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning tunneling microscopy, corroborated with density functional theory band structure calculations, validate the phase purity and the metallic nature. Borophene with excellent anchoring capabilities is used for sensing of light, gas, molecules, and strain. Hybrids of borophene as well as that of reduced borophene oxide with other 2D materials are synthesized, and the predicted superior performance in energy storage is explored. The specific capacity of borophene oxide is observed to be ≈4941 mAh g^?1, which significantly exceeds that of existing 2D materials and their hybrids. These freestanding borophene materials and their hybrids will create a huge breakthrough in the field of 2D materials and could help to develop future generations of devices and emerging applications.     

Conductance Behaviour of Tunneling Junctions with Fractal Structures

Conductance behaviours of resonant tunneling junction with elementary, second and third Sier pinskii structures are considered. Numerical calculation shows that a tunneling junction with higher order fractal structure possesses more meticulous resonant behaviour. It provides the possibility of fabricating exact energy selecting tunneling devices. The structure of tunneling junction can be determined by experimental observation. The energetic spectrum of such device is supposed to be a fractal one. The effect of electrode is alteration of the shape and maximum of conductance peaks.     

Protein-based multi-bit biomemory device consisting of various metalloproteins on self-assembled 11-MUA layer

A multi-bit biomemory device was devised by introducing 4 different metalloproteins (azurin, cytochrome c, ferredoxin, myoglobin) to an electronic device using 11-MUA (11-mercapto-undecanoic acid) as the chemical linker. The immobilization of the 4 different self-assembled protein layers on a Au substrate via 11-MUA were confirmed by Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The redox properties of these 4 different protein layers immobilized onto Au surface were assessed by cyclic voltammetry (CV). In addition, their memory functions were verified by chronoamperometry (CA). Based on these results, we demonstrated that a multi-bit biomemory concept could be realized using various metalloproteins as active materials.     

Versatile waveguide-coupled optofluidic devices based on liquid core optical ring resonators

A versatile waveguide-coupled optofluidic device using the liquid core optical ring resonator (LCORR) that can be operated with liquid of any refractive index (RI) is theoretically analyzed and experimentally demonstrated. The results confirm the confinement of resonant modes for all sample RIs, and reveal that confined modes in a high-RI core are excited by an external waveguide by resonant tunneling through the LCORR wall. It is further found that a thin wall must be used for effective interaction between the core mode and the waveguide. The results have important applications in optofluidic devices, including sensors, microfluidic lasers, and nonlinear optics.     

合金纳米线电子输运性质的理论计算研究

采用分子动力学模拟纳米管中合金纳米线的结构演化以及纳米线电学特性的变化规律。量子效应导致纳米线的电流电压曲线呈现出非线性特点,且在低电压区会出现电导隙,其宽度是由最高分子占据轨道和最低分子未被占据轨道的差值决定。锡原子的掺杂削弱了原本硅锗合金材料内的电子穿透能力,当锡原子数目占整条纳米线原子数的百分之十甚至更多时,由于库仑阻塞效应,在电流电压曲线图的低电压区,电流随电压的变化甚微;当硅锗锡三者原子比例相同时,纳米线的库仑阻塞效应尤为明显。由于隧穿共振效应,电导随电压的增大出现许多共振峰,并且共振峰的数量也随锡原子比例的增加而增加。     

Evidence for metal-semiconductor transitions in twisted and collapsed double-walled carbon nanotubes by scanning tunneling microscopy

The atomic and electronic structure of a twisted and collapsed double-walled carbon nanotube was characterized using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. It was found that the deformation opens an electronic band gap in an otherwise metallic nanotube, which has major ramifications on the use of carbon nanotubes for electronic applications. Fundamentally, the importance of the intershell interaction in this double-walled carbon nanotube points to the potential of a reversible metal-semiconductor junction, which can have device applications, as well as a caution in the design of semiconductor components based on carbon nanotubes. Lattice registry effects between the two neighboring walls evidenced by atomically resolved images confirm earlier first principle calculations indicating that the helicity influences the collapsed structure and show excellent agreement with the predicted twisted-collapse mode.     

Split current quantum-dot cellular automata-modeling and simulation

We examine a novel quantum-dot cellular automata device concept using the interaction of resonant tunneling currents through a system of four quantum wells. The interaction of resonant tunneling currents forces the total current to flow predominantly in the wells along one of the two diagonals, effectively polarizing the cell. We refer to this device concept as split current quantum cellular automata (SCQCA). A free cell will settle to a random diagonal, whereas charge interactions between adjacent cells will cause the polarization to synchronize between cells. In contrast with the standard QCA cell, this device does not require tunneling between dots. Electron tunneling occurs along the vertical direction, where highly controllable deposition techniques are able to deposit very thin films and effectively tune the device parameters. Clocking of an SCQCA cell is performed by controlling the bias across the device, and none of the potential barriers between the dots need to be controlled. We believe this device concept lends itself to fabrication using currently available fabrication technologies.     

Electrical properties of ultra-thin oxynitrided layer using N2O plasma in inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition for non-volatile memory on glass

In this work, the silicon oxynitride layer was studied as a tunneling layer for non-volatile memory application by fabricating low temperature polysilicon thin film transistors on glass. Silicon wafers were oxynitrided by only nitrous oxide plasma under different radio frequency powers and plasma treatment times. Plasma oxynitridation was performed in RF plasma using inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition. The X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy was employed to analyze the atomic concentration ratio of nitrogen/oxygen in oxynitride layer. The oxynitrided layer formed under radio frequency power of 150 W and substrate temperature of 623 K was found to contain the atomic concentration ratio of nitrogen/oxygen as high as 1.57. The advantage of high nitrogen concentration in silicon oxide layer formed by using nitrous oxide plasma was investigated by capacitance-voltage measurement. The analysis of capacitance-voltage characteristics demonstrated that the ultra-thin oxynitride layers of 2 nm thickness formed by only nitrous oxide plasma have good properties as tunneling layer for non-volatile memory device.     

DBRT结构等效电容的应力调制研究

在超晶格薄膜组成的量子井双势垒二极管器件（DBRT）的外部施加单轴压力,会使得器件内部的薄膜发生应变——薄膜的几何尺寸会改变。在偏压不变的情况下,器件的隧穿电流大小将会被改变,同时,器件的各项电学参数将会发生改变。文章将研究器件的等效电容在应力作用下变化的现象,也就是器件电容的应力调制现象,并把这种现象叫做介观压容效应。