Search for: All records

The superior size and power scaling potential of ferroelectric-gated Mott transistors makes them promising building blocks for developing energy-efficient memory and logic applications in the post-Moore’s Law era. The close to metallic carrier density in the Mott channel, however, imposes the bottleneck for achieving substantial field effect modulation via a solid-state gate. Previous studies have focused on optimizing the thickness, charge mobility, and carrier density of single-layer correlated channels, which have only led to moderate resistance switching at room temperature. Here, we report a record high nonvolatile resistance switching ratio of 38,440% at 300 K in a prototype Mott transistor consisting of a ferroelectric PbZr_0.2Ti_0.8O₃gate and anRNiO₃(R: rare earth)/La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃composite channel. The ultrathin La_0.67Sr_0.33MnO₃buffer layer not only tailors the carrier density profile inRNiO₃through interfacial charge transfer, as corroborated by first-principles calculations, but also provides an extended screening layer that reduces the depolarization effect in the ferroelectric gate. Our study points to an effective material strategy for the functional design of complex oxide heterointerfaces that harnesses the competing roles of charge in field effect screening and ferroelectric depolarization effects.

 

We report the modification of a gas phase ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) instrument that enables experiments with both gas and condensed matter targets, where a time-resolved experiment with sub-picosecond resolution is demonstrated with solid state samples. The instrument relies on a hybrid DC-RF acceleration structure to deliver femtosecond electron pulses on the target, which is synchronized with femtosecond laser pulses. The laser pulses and electron pulses are used to excite the sample and to probe the structural dynamics, respectively. The new system is added with capabilities to perform transmission UED on thin solid samples. It allows for cooling samples to cryogenic temperatures and to carry out time-resolved measurements. We tested the cooling capability by recording diffraction patterns of temperature dependent charge density waves in 1T-TaS2. The time-resolved capability is experimentally verified by capturing the dynamics in photoexcited single-crystal gold.

 

The ferrimagnetic inverse spinel NiCo 2 O 4 has attracted extensive research interest for its versatile electrochemical properties, robust magnetic order, high conductivity, and fast spin dynamics, as well as its highly tunable nature due to the closely coupled charge, spin, orbital, lattice, and defect effects. Single-crystalline epitaxial thin films of NiCo 2 O 4 present a model system for elucidating the intrinsic physical properties and strong tunability, which are not viable in bulk single crystals. In this Perspective, we discuss the recent advances in epitaxial NiCo 2 O 4 thin films, focusing on understanding its unusual magnetic and transport properties in light of crystal structure and electronic structure. The perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in compressively strained NiCo 2 O 4 films is explained by considering the strong spin–lattice coupling, particularly on Co ions. The prominent effect of growth conditions reveals the complex interplay between the crystal structure, cation stoichiometry, valence state, and site occupancy. NiCo 2 O 4 thin films also exhibit various magnetotransport anomalies, including linear magnetoresistance and sign change in anomalous Hall effect, which illustrate the competing effects of band-intrinsic Berry phase and impurity scattering. The fundamental understanding of these phenomena will facilitate the functional design of NiCo 2 O 4 thin films for nanoscale spintronic applications. 

We report the effect of remote surface optical (RSO) phonon scattering on carrier mobility in monolayer graphene gated by ferroelectric oxide. We fabricate monolayer graphene transistors back-gated by epitaxial (001) Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 films, with field effect mobility up to 23 000 cm2 V−1 s−1 achieved. Switching ferroelectric polarization induces nonvolatile modulation of resistance and quantum Hall effect in graphene at low temperatures. Ellipsometry spectroscopy studies reveal four pairs of optical phonon modes in Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3, from which we extract RSO phonon frequencies. The temperature dependence of resistivity in graphene can be well accounted for by considering the scattering from the intrinsic longitudinal acoustic phonon and the RSO phonon, with the latter dominated by the mode at 35.8 meV. Our study reveals the room temperature mobility limit of ferroelectric-gated graphene transistors imposed by RSO phonon scattering.

 

There is a strong drive behind the quest for thin-film materials that are oxygen-free and polar. Oxygen hinders the integration of ferroelectric oxides with semiconductors, which affects efforts to develop nonvolatile memory—that is, a memory that can sustain its information without power. Ideally, one would use single-crystalline perovskite films to construct these devices so that the polarization can be maximized. However, when depositing crystalline polar perovskite oxides onto silicon or germanium, a nonpolar oxide buffer layer ( 1 ) or a native oxide layer ( 2 ) can be present at the interface, compromising device performance. A nitrogen-based perovskite may overcome this limitation ( 3 ). On page 1488 of this issue, Talley et al. ( 4 ) report the synthesis of lanthanum tungsten nitride (LaWN 3 ) thin films, which marks the first demonstration of polar nitride perovskite. This may lead to oxygen-free integration of functional perovskite on a semiconductor platform. 

The device concept of ferroelectric-based negative capacitance (NC) transistors offers a promising route for achieving energy-efficient logic applications that can outperform the conventional semiconductor technology, while viable operation mechanisms remain a central topic of debate. In this work, we report steep slope switching in MoS₂transistors back-gated by single-layer polycrystalline PbZr_0.35Ti_0.65O₃. The devices exhibit current switching ratios up to 8 × 10⁶within an ultra-low gate voltage window of$$V_{{{\mathrm{g}}}} = \pm \! 0.5$$$V_g=\pm 0.5$V and subthreshold swing (SS) as low as 9.7 mV decade⁻¹at room temperature, transcending the 60 mV decade⁻¹Boltzmann limit without involving additional dielectric layers. Theoretical modeling reveals the dominant role of the metastable polar states within domain walls in enabling the NC mode, which is corroborated by the relation between SS and domain wall density. Our findings shed light on a hysteresis-free mechanism for NC operation, providing a simple yet effective material strategy for developing low-power 2D nanoelectronics.

 

The development of multifunctional nanomaterials has received growing research interest, thanks to its ability to combine multiple properties for severing highly demanding purposes. In this work, holmium oxide nanoparticles are synthesized and characterized by various tools including XRD, XPS, and TEM. These nanoparticles are found to emit near-infrared fluorescence (800–1100 nm) under a 785 nm excitation source. Imaging of the animal tissues was demonstrated, and the maximum imaging depth was found to be 2.2 cm. The synthesized nanoparticles also show the capability of facilitating dye (fluorescein sodium salt and rhodamine 6G) degradation under white light irradiation. The synthesized holmium oxide nanoparticles are envisioned to be useful for near-infrared tissue imaging and dye-degradation.