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While ferroelectric hafnia (HfO2) has become a technically important material for microelectronics, the physical origin of its ferroelectricity remains poorly understood. The tetragonal P 4 2 / nmc phase is commonly assigned as its paraelectric mother phase but has no soft mode at the Brillouin zone center. In this work, we propose that the paraelectric—ferroelectric transition in the fluorite-type Pca21 ferroelectric family can be described by a Pcca — Pca 2 1 transition, where the Pcca mother phase will evolve into either the Pca 2 1 ferroelectric phase or the centrosymmetric P 2 1 / c monoclinic phase, depending on the strain conditions. The Pcca phase is directly linked to both phases in the context of continuous phase transition. Hafnia is regarded as a special case of this family in that it has accidental atomic degeneracy because all anions are oxygen. The theory is also correlated with the seven-coordination theory that explains the ferroelectricity in hafnia from a chemical perspective. In addition, the strain conditions to promote the ferroelectric phase in hafnia are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a rediscovered ternary two-dimensional (2D) material, defect-rich Znln2S4 has great potential for energy-harvesting applications. However, the effect of defects on its physical properties and device performance remains elusive. Herein, we explored the influence of defects (S vacancies and In–Zn substitutions) in few-layer Znln2S4 on the charge transport and photoelectric performance. It is demonstrated that the defect-rich Znln2S4 device exhibits two-dimensional variable range hopping transport mechanism, with uniform charge transport along the channel and low contact resistance at the electrical contacts of Znln2S4/Au. Importantly, due to the contribution of the donor and acceptor energy levels inside the bandgap, the flake exhibits pronounced extrinsic absorption, leading to the competitive photodetector performance under sub-bandgap photo-excitation. Explicitly, the device exhibits a maximum responsivity of 4.08 × 104 A W−1, a photo-gain of >108 electrons per photon, and a specific detectivity of ∼1015 Jones under 532 nm laser excitation, with detection wavelength extending from 400 to 980 nm. Our findings underscore the significant potential of defect-engineering to enrich the functionalities of 2D semiconductors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combination of nonvolatile storage and in-memory computing promises to break through the "memory bottleneck" that computing device adopts von Neumann architecture with individual computing and memory unit. Thus, the advanced nonvolatile memory device with ultrafast operation speed is urgently required. Here, the optoelectronic hybrid phase-change memory based on the Ge2Sb2Te5 material is proposed, where the picosecond laser induced reversible phase-change is utilized to write and erase the information while the resistance difference is adopted to realize the accurate information readout. Due to the significant difference in resistance between crystalline and amorphous states, a partial crystallization strategy can be adopted to achieve ultrafast SET operation. Results indicate that SET operation speed of the Ge2Sb2Te5 film and device unit can be as fast as 52 and 130 ps, respectively, while the RESET speed reaches 13 ps. In parallel, the resistance ratio of RESET to SET state is still as high as two orders of magnitude. By using partial crystallization strategy, the phase-change induced by picosecond laser only occurs from amorphous to face-centered-cubic crystalline state with low crystallinity and the defective octahedral motif is observed in the Ge2Sb2Te5 film, which is beneficial to achieve the ultrafast operation speed. At the same time, the ordered clusters existed in the as-deposited and picosecond laser induced RESET films can accelerate the nucleation process of the Ge2Sb2Te5 film, which is one of the important reasons for achieving ultrafast SET speed. The optoelectronic hybrid phase-change memory with ultrafast operation speed may be one of the promising solutions for the in-memory computing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxidation of environmentally sensitive van der Waals (vdWs) materials or heterostructures can enrich the functionalities of nano-electronic devices by tailoring the band diagram at the hetero-interface. Herein, we demonstrated that amorphous Ga2O3−x with wide-bandgap and insulating features, homogeneously oxidized from GaSe, can act as a tunneling layer in GaSe/InSe vdWs heterostructure device with a floating gate architecture, endowing the robust charge trapping/releasing ability, leading to the achievement of both positive and negative persistent photocurrent (PPC and NPC) characteristics. More impressively, the NPC exhibited OFF/ON current ratio of up to 107, several orders of magnitude larger than the reported NPC in other vdWs materials and heterostructures devices, leading to the achievement of optical memory with 14 distinct current levels and power consumption low to ∼1 pJ. Our work provides an effective avenue to achieve functionality-oriented memory devices by extending this simple configuration to other types of environmentally sensitive vdWs materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Balancing operation speed and thermal stability is a big challenge in phase change memory (PCM). In this work, a carbon (C) and chromium (Cr) co-doped Sb2Te strategy has been proposed for achieving high operation speed and high stability in PCM applications. In general, doping with the appropriate Cr element is beneficial to improve thermal stability, but it will sacrifice its operation speed. C-doping can enhance thermal stability and retain its fast phase transition properties due to the carbon elements tend to form agglomerates in the host that ameliorate disorder of the amorphous phase without loss of the phase transition rate. Intriguingly, the as-prepared C1.19Cr0.23Sb2Te material exhibits good data retention (T10-year @ 155.0 °C) and low-volume change rate (1.8%), as well as fast switching speed (4 ns) and good endurance (>1 × 105 cycles). This research indicates that C and Cr co-doping is an effective method to achieve excellent stability of phase-change materials without sacrificing the phase-transition rate of Sb2Te materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hafnium-oxide-based materials are considered a promising candidate for next-generation nonvolatile memory devices owing to their good CMOS compatibility and robust ferroelectricity at the nanoscale. In this work, we synthesize highly (111)-oriented La-doped HfO2 (HLO) ferroelectric thin films via pulsed laser deposition. Furthermore, the effect of La dopant concentration, thickness, and growth temperature on the ferroelectricity of HLO films is investigated in detail. A maximum remnant polarization of ∼9 μC/cm2 is achieved for only the 5-nm-thick 3 mol. % HLO films without a wake-up process. The 180° inversion of the domain, the butterfly-shaped capacitance–voltage curve, and typical ferroelectric displacement current curve further demonstrate the robust ferroelectricity at the nanoscale. Moreover, the phase evolves from the monoclinic to the orthorhombic and subsequently to the cubic phase with increasing La concentration, which is due to the combined action of oxygen vacancy, epitaxial strain, and chemical pressure. Additionally, in the interface configuration of HLO/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO), the MnO20.7− layer is substituted by the HLO layer on the MnO2-terminated surface of LSMO, which can be attributed to the fact that the HLO layer with higher electronegativity replaces the MnO20.7− layer with the same electronegativity in the HLO film. Therefore, this study provides a reliable pathway for directly obtaining a lightly doped HLO ferroelectric thin film, which can help to broaden the understanding of the ferroelectric physical mechanisms with element doping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasi-one-dimensional layered TiS3 nanosheets possess highly anisotropic physical properties. Herein, we reported the anisotropic strain response of Raman and the piezoresistance effect in layered TiS3 nanosheets. An attractive Grüneisen parameter ( γ m ) of 5.82 was achieved for A g III mode in the b-axis strained TiS3 nanosheet, while a negligible value of γ m was obtained when the strain is applied along the a-axis direction. We also revealed the opposite piezoresistive effect with strains applied along the two principal axes, demonstrating a gauge factor ratio of approximately −1:3.2. The giant anisotropy is attributed to the strain modulated bandgap, which was further confirmed by density functional theory calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the impact ionization-induced OFF-state breakdown is revealed and systematically investigated in 100 V Schottky-type p-GaN gate high-electron-mobility transistors. Impact ionization is found to occur in the peak electric-field region at the source-terminated field-plate edge and is initiated by electrons injected from the source-side two-dimensional electron gas channel through the buffer layer. Hot electrons generated from impact ionization, when being captured by surface traps, could lead to redistribution and peak value reduction of electric-field. Consequently, the sudden rise in the OFF-state leakage current by impact ionization could be self-clamped temporally to avoid catastrophic rupture of the device. The impact ionization is further verified by the increase in dynamic OFF-state leakage current and a negative shift in threshold voltage, both of which result from positively charged holes (generated from impact ionization) drifting toward the gated channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an emerging phenomenon in oxide heterostructures, the ferroelectric control of electronic transport is attracting considerable research attention. However, the effect of ferroelectric polarization on resistive switching (RS) remains controversial. In this study, to determine the effects of ferroelectric polarization on memory characteristics, ferroelectric and non-ferroelectric BaTiO3 (BTO) films were fabricated using different oxygen partial pressures (Po2) during film growth. A correlated electron oxide, SmNiO3 (SNO), was selected as the bottom electrode. Based on piezoelectric force microscopy, ferroelectricity was verified in the BTO films prepared at Po2 ≥ 3 Pa, whereas the films fabricated at lower Po2 did not exhibit ferroelectricity. Remarkable RS with an ON/OFF ratio of 104% was clearly observed in heterostructures containing ferroelectric BTO, while RS was negligible in structures with non-ferroelectric BTO. The strong ferroelectricity dependence of RS behavior on the BTO/SNO heterostructures was attributed to the ferroelectric control of device transport between bulk-limited current in the low-resistance state and interface-limited conductance in the high-resistance state, which results from the modulation of the potential barrier at the BTO/SNO interface. The findings provide strong evidence for the dominant effect of ferroelectric polarization of BTO on the transport properties of BTO/SNO heterostructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanical properties of black phosphorus (BP)nanosheets suspended over circular holes were measured by an atomic force microscope nanoindentation method. The continuum mechanic model was introduced to calculate the elastic modulus and pretension of BPnanosheets with thicknesses ranging from 14.3 to 34 nm. Elastic modulus of BPnanosheets declines with thickness, and the maximum value is 276 ± 32.4 GPa. Besides, the effective strain of BP ranges from 8 to 17% with a breaking strength of 25 GPa. Our results show that BPnanosheets serve as a promising candidate for flexible electronic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A graphene-based electrical current sensor is proposed utilizing a microfiber coil resonator. Monolayer graphene sheet with a large sheet resistance is transferred onto the surface of a glass capillary rod. A microfiber is spirally wrapped around the graphene sheet to form a coil resonator. Heat generated from electrical current shifts the resonant wavelength because of the thermal effect in the microfiber resonator. The sensor exhibits a very good performance with a high sensitivity of 67.297 μm/A², which is two orders of magnitude higher than that reported earlier. Our results show that microfiber-graphene-integrated devices have great potential for miniature and highly sensitive fiber sensors for monitoring electrical current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To bridge the gap of access time between memories and storage systems, the concept of storage class memory has been put forward based on emerging nonvolatile memory technologies. For all the nonvolatile memory candidates, the unpleasant tradeoff between operation speed and retention seems to be inevitable. To promote both the write speed and the retention of phase change memory (PCM), Sc doped Ge2Sb2Te5 (SGST) has been proposed as the storage medium. Octahedral Sc-Te motifs, acting as crystallization precursors to shorten the nucleation incubation period, are the possible reason for the high write speed of 6 ns in PCM cells, five-times faster than that of Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) cells. Meanwhile, an enhanced 10-year data retention of 119 °C has been achieved. Benefiting from both the increased crystalline resistance and the inhibited formation of the hexagonal phase, the SGST cell has a 77% reduction in power consumption compared to the GST cell. Adhesion of the SGST/SiO2 interface has been strengthened, attributed to the reduced stress by forming smaller grains during crystallization, guaranteeing the reliability of the device. These improvements have made the SGST material a promising candidate for PCM application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxidation of environmentally sensitive van der Waals (vdWs) materials or heterostructures can enrich the functionalities of nano-electronic devices by tailoring the band diagram at the hetero-interface. Herein, we demonstrated that amorphous Ga2O3−x with wide-bandgap and insulating features, homogeneously oxidized from GaSe, can act as a tunneling layer in GaSe/InSe vdWs heterostructure device with a floating gate architecture, endowing the robust charge trapping/releasing ability, leading to the achievement of both positive and negative persistent photocurrent (PPC and NPC) characteristics. More impressively, the NPC exhibited OFF/ON current ratio of up to 107, several orders of magnitude larger than the reported NPC in other vdWs materials and heterostructures devices, leading to the achievement of optical memory with 14 distinct current levels and power consumption low to ∼1 pJ. Our work provides an effective avenue to achieve functionality-oriented memory devices by extending this simple configuration to other types of environmentally sensitive vdWs materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]