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What makes elastic waves different from other waves is the existence of various wave modes and coupling between these modes. Accordingly, the manipulation of elastic waves suffers from many limitations due to mode coupling, which is an inherent complex physical property of elastic waves. In this study, we propose fluid-like elastic metasurfaces that act as an acoustic (fluid) surface to perfectly eliminate mode coupling. Because longitudinal and shear waves are decoupled, only reflected longitudinal (or shear) waves exist when longitudinal (or shear) waves are incident. Using a strip-type unit cell, elastic metasurfaces mimicking acoustic hard-wall and soft-wall were designed and realized. In addition, numerical analysis and experiments were conducted to prove the validity of the designed unit cells. This study presents a more versatile metasurface by solving the mode coupling of solid elastic waves. In addition, two types of designed fluid-like metasurfaces are expected to be utilized in further studies considering the opposite phase shift characteristic.

This work investigates the effect of N2O plasma treatment on the reliability of p-GaN gate AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs), specifically in the AlGaN drift region. The formation of a GaON/AlON compound layer on the AlGaN surface after N2O plasma treatment was confirmed by energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy mapping and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. When a device is under highly stressed conditions, the compound layer reduces the number of negatively charged interface traps and protects the AlGaN surface by hindering the Ga-out diffusion. The high temperature reverse bias reliability test demonstrated that the N2O plasma treatment enhanced the reliability of p-GaN gate HEMTs by suppressing the degradation of the on-resistance from 18.7% to 9.0%, after being subjected to a high drain bias (VDS = 700 V) at 200 °C for 1000 s.

We have conducted a terahertz spectroscopic study of antiferromagnetic resonances in bulk orthoferrite YFe1−xMnxO3 0≤x≤0.4. Both the quasi-ferromagnetic resonance mode and the quasi-antiferromagnetic resonance mode in the weak ferromagnetic Γ4 phase disappear near the spin reorientation temperature, TSR, for the onset of the collinear antiferromagnetic Γ1 phase (x ≥ 0.1). Below TSR, an antiferromagnetic resonance mode emerges and exhibits a large blueshift with decreasing temperature. However, below 50 K, this mode softens considerably, and this tendency becomes stronger with Mn doping. We provide a deeper understanding of such behaviors of the antiferromagnetic resonance modes in terms of the influence of the Mn3+ ions on the magnetocrystalline anisotropy. Our results show that terahertz time-domain spectroscopy is a useful, complementary tool in tracking magnetic transitions and probing the interaction between disparate magnetic subsystems in antiferromagnetic materials with multiple ionic species.

In this study, the influence of the HfOxNy interfacial layer (IL), interposed between the atomic layer deposited ferroelectric (FE) Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 thin film and TiN top electrode, on the FE properties of such a film was examined. The HfOxNy IL decreased the relative proportion of the non-FE monoclinic phase, possibly due to the N-doping effect. Furthermore, the oxidation of the TiN top electrode was also suppressed by the sacrificial oxidation of the HfOxNy IL during the rapid thermal process. As a result, the double remanent polarization of a Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 thin film could be enhanced from 40.2 to 48.2 μC/cm2 by the positive-up-negative-down test, and its degradation by fatigue during the endurance test can also be decreased. This result demonstrates the significance of interfacial engineering to optimize the FE properties of Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 films.

In this study, we investigate the effects of various electrodes on the ferroelectric properties of ultrathin HfZrOx (HZO) films. The ferroelectric polarization is totally suppressed in the HZO films with TiN and W bottom electrodes when the film thickness is below 5 nm. These results can be attributed to the formation of a dead layer at the bottom electrode/HZO interface during the atomic layer deposition (ALD) and annealing processes. On the other hand, the HZO film with a Pt bottom electrode shows an excellent P–E loop with a very high switchable polarization (2Pr) of 42.5 μC/cm2 even at a film thickness of 2.5 nm. Through the short pulse switching technique, we confirm the formation of a thick dead layer in the HZO films with TiN and W electrodes, which inhibits the formation of the orthorhombic phase in these ultrathin HZO films. This implies that the ferroelectric property of ultrathin HZO films can be improved by choosing an appropriate electrode material capable of suppress ing the formation of a dead layer.

Achieving total mode conversion from longitudinal to shear waves for a broad incident angle has been a big scientific challenge in elastic fields, which was impossible to be achieved in classical elastic wave theory. In this paper, we propose and realize a refractive transmodal elastic metasurface that can convert an incident longitudinal wave to a shear wave for a broad incident angle. Here, the total mode conversion is achieved via a sufficiently large phase gradient, while the full transmission is achieved with the impedance-matched single-layered metasurface. Numerical and experimental investigations show that the proposed metasurface can provide almost total mode conversion for a broad incident angle from −20.4 ° to 22.3 °. We expect that the proposed refractive transmodal metasurface can be applied in various ultrasonic systems.

Spin–orbit coupling (SOC) offers an alternative technique for generating pure spin currents in non-magnetic materials and controlling spin precessions for spin-field effect transistors. In addition, introducing SOC into graphene causes pristine graphene to evolve into a new condensed matter phase, such as the topological insulator state (quantum spin Hall state). Thus, the control of SOC in graphene is essential for its functional spin-orbitronic applications. Here, we report the nonvolatile tuning of SOC in graphene through the proximity effect from a ferroelectric substrate, Pb(Zr52,Ti48)O3 (PZT). Ferroelectric poling by applying a gate voltage induces a change in the SOC strength in addition to shifting the charge neutral point in graphene. The variations in SOC were extracted from weak localization within the quantum interference theory of graphene. Our analyses show that the dipole moments from the PZT polarization significantly enhance the z → −z asymmetric and symmetric SOCs of graphene. Unlike the impurity doping and/or gating, our methodology leads to the nonvolatile electrical control of SOC, thereby paving the way for versatile spin-orbitronic applications of graphene.

Recent technological innovations in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have enabled their applicability to be expanded to not only displays but also the lighting industry. In addition, the high scalability and flexibility of OLEDs render them promising candidates for next-generation displays. However, their insufficient lifetime and low uniformity/stability are challenging issues, mainly because of inadequate understanding regarding the fundamental degradation mechanism of OLEDs owing to their complex device structure. Herein, based on impedance spectroscopy (IS), we report the origin of the relaxation frequency (fR) shift in blue OLEDs as a function of electrical stress time for up to 1000 h with a constant current stress condition of 1 mA. These experimental conditions allow us to separately study the degradation mechanisms of the emission and transport layer (TPL) interfaces. On the basis of thorough understanding of the theoretical expression of fR, we mainly attribute the variation in fR at the charge-balancing voltage to the degradation of the TPL interface; this is further rationalized by the negligible difference between fR values obtained from IS and the equivalent circuit theory. This strong correlation consequently renders fR a powerful degradation indicator for the TPL interface. Our results provide a basis for the realization of highly reliable blue OLEDs with a sufficient lifetime.

Electrifying both stationary and mobile systems requires ultra-compact, lightweight power electronics and electric machines. Increasing the volumetric and gravimetric density of these systems is constrained, however, by the capacity to remove heat from these assemblies. A promising method for extracting heat is jumping droplet condensation, which can address both spatially and temporally changing hotspots. Yet, disagreement exists in the literature about the maximum attainable heat flux for water-based, droplet jumping devices such as vapor chambers, with values ranging from 5 to 500 W/cm2. Here, using thermal measurements and optical imaging in pure vapor conditions, we directly observe the hydrodynamics occurring inside of a jumping droplet vapor chamber. Our experiments show that flooding is the key obstacle limiting jumping droplet mass flux to hot spots, limiting heat transfer to less than 15 W/cm2. These results indicate that past works reporting high heat fluxes benefited from other hot spot cooling pathways such as previously observed liquid bridges formed due to flooding. To test our hypothesis, we characterize progressive flooding on a variety of structured surfaces ranging in length-scale from 100 nm to 10 μm. Progressive flooding was delayed by decreasing the length-scale of the surface structures, which supports recent observations in the literature. Our work not only helps to understand the wide variability of past results quantifying droplet jumping heat transfer, but also provides design guidelines for the development of surfaces that are capable of maintaining enhanced jumping droplet condensation.

We investigate the effect of strain on the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) channel in a flexible Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) by mechanical bending to prove the concept of active polarization engineering to create multifunctional electronic and photonic devices made of flexible group III-nitride thin films. The flexible HEMTs are fabricated by a layer-transfer process and integrated with a 150-μm-thick Cu film. The strain values are estimated from high-resolution x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy in 4-cm bend-down and −4-cm bend-up test conditions. The strain-induced piezoelectric polarization can alter the charge density of the 2DEG in the channel at the AlGaN/GaN interface and thus modify the output characteristics of the flexible HEMTs. Accordingly, output characteristics show an increase in output current by 3.4% in the bend-down condition and a decrease by 4.3% in the bend-up condition. Transfer characteristics show a shift of threshold voltage, which also supports the 2DEG channel modulation during bending. Computational simulation based on the same structure confirms the same current modulation effect and threshold voltage shift. Furthermore, the electrical characteristics of the flexible HEMTs show a repeatable dependence on the strain effect, which offers potential for electro-mechanical device applications.

Liquid-vapor phase-change cooling has a significant potential to facilitate the development of highly dense electronics by leveraging latent heat during the phase transition to remove heat from hotspots. A promising form of liquid–vapor phase-change cooling is coalescence-induced jumping droplet condensation, where droplet growth results in coalescence and gravity-independent jumping from the cold surface due to capillary-inertial energy conversion. Once the departed droplets reach the hotspot, heat is extracted via evaporation and through vapor return, subsequently spreading to the cold surface via condensation. Realizing the full potential of jumping droplet cooling requires a detailed understanding of the physics governing the process. Here, we examine the fundamental thermal and hydrodynamic limits of jumping droplet condensation. We demonstrate that jumping is mainly governed by the rate of droplet growth and fluid thermophysical properties. Timescale analysis demonstrates that the upper bound of water vapor jumping droplet condensation critical heat flux is ∼ 20 kW/cm2, significantly higher than that experimentally observed thus far due to surface structure limitations. Analysis of a wide range of available working fluids shows that liquid metals such as Li, Na, and Hg can obtain superior performance when compared to water.

Self-aligned gate structures are preferred for faster operation and scaling down of thin film transistors by reducing the overlapped region between source/drain and gate electrodes. Doping on source/drain regions is essential to fabricate such a self-aligned gate thin film transistor. For oxide semiconductors such as In-Ga-Zn-O, SiNx capping readily increases their carrier concentration. We report that the SiNx deposition temperature and thickness significantly affect the device properties, including threshold voltage, field effect mobility, and contact resistance. The reason for these variations in device characteristics mainly comes from the extension of the doped region to the gated area after the SiNx capping step. Analyses on capacitance-voltage and transfer length characteristics support this idea.

We investigate the polarization modulation effect of a single-crystalline BeO layer on AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs). The BeO layer with macroscopic polarization on top of the AlGaN barrier layer increases the 2-dimensional electron gas density in the triangular quantum well (QW) at the interface of the AlGaN/GaN heterostructure. Electronic band bending of BeO and a deeper triangular QW observed from the simulated conduction band profile indicate that the BeO layer can modify the polarization field at the AlGaN/GaN interface. A ∼20-nm-thick single-crystalline BeO thin film is grown on AlGaN/GaN HEMTs by atomic-layer deposition. Room-temperature and variable-temperature Hall-effect measurements confirm that the HEMT with BeO forms a channel with a 14% increase of the sheet carrier concentration as compared with a conventional HEMT. An improved output performance is also observed in the I-V characteristics which confirms the polarization modulation effect of the BeO layer.We investigate the polarization modulation effect of a single-crystalline BeO layer on AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs). The BeO layer with macroscopic polarization on top of the AlGaN barrier layer increases the 2-dimensional electron gas density in the triangular quantum well (QW) at the interface of the AlGaN/GaN heterostructure. Electronic band bending of BeO and a deeper triangular QW observed from the simulated conduction band profile indicate that the BeO layer can modify the polarization field at the AlGaN/GaN interface. A ∼20-nm-thick single-crystalline BeO thin film is grown on AlGaN/GaN HEMTs by atomic-layer deposition. Room-temperature and variable-temperature Hall-effect measurements confirm that the HEMT with BeO forms a channel with a 14% increase of the sheet carrier concentration as compared with a conventional HEMT. An improved output performance is also observed in the I-V characteristics which confirms the polarization modulation effect of the BeO layer.

Wearable power sources should be stretchable to provide continuous electricity to devices. In spite of significant progress in the field of wearable electronics, the development of stretchable power sources is still challenging. In this study, we developed a high-performance stretchable thermoelectric generator using multi-dimensional nanocomposites. The thermoelectric power of the metal dichalcogenide (TMD) nanosheet-based active film was significantly enhanced by adding highly conducting single wall carbon nanotubes (one-dimensional material) bridging the multi-stacked TMD nanosheets, which improved the electrical conductivity and morphological stability of the active film, thus increasing its thermoelectric power factor (47 μW/K2 m). The wrinkles on the nanocomposite film rendered it geometrically stretchable. The wrinkled nanocomposite showed significantly improved thermoelectric properties and excellent strain resistance because of the slipping of the TMD nanosheets as a lubricant to release the strain applied to the wrinkles during stretching.