Observation of the inverse giant piezoresistance effect in silicon nanomembranes probed by ultrafast terahertz spectroscopy

The anomalous piezoresistance (a-PZR) effects, including giant PZR (GPZR) with large magnitude and inverse PZR of opposite, have exciting technological potentials for their integration into novel nanoelectromechanical systems. However, the nature of a-PZR effect and the associated kinetics have not been clearly determined yet. Even further, there are intense research debates whether the a-PZR effect actually exists or not; although numerous investigations have been conducted, the origin of the effect has not been clearly understood. This paper shows the existence of a-PZR and provides direct experimental evidence through the performance of well-established electrical measurements and terahertz spectroscopy on silicon nanomembranes (Si NMs). The clear inverse PZR behavior was observed in the Si NMs when the thickness was less than 40 nm and the magnitude of the PZR response linearly increased with the decreasing thickness. Observations combined with electrical and optical measurements strongly corroborate that the a-PZR effect originates from the carrier concentration changes via charge carrier trapping into strain-induced defect states.