No Arabic abstract
In this letter, the transient behavior of a ferroelectric (FE) metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitor is theoretically investigated with a series resistor. It is shown that compared to a conventional high-k dielectric MOS capacitor, a significant inversion charge-boost can be achieved by a FE MOS capacitor due to a steep transient subthreshold swing (SS) driven by the free charge-polarization mismatch. It is also shown that the observation of steep transient SS significantly depends on the viscosity coefficient under Landaus mean field theory, in general representing the average FE time response associated with domain nucleation and propagation. Therefore, this letter not only establishes a theoretical framework that describes the physical origin behind the inversion charge-boost in a FE MOS capacitor, but also shows that the key feature of depolarization effect on a FE MOS capacitor should be the inversion-charge boost, rather than the steep SS (e.g., sub-60mV/dec at room temperature), which cannot be experimentally observed as the measurement time is much longer than the FE response. Finally, we outlines the required material targets for the FE response in field-effect transistors to be applicable for next-generation high-speed and low-power digital switches.
We investigate the effect of hypersonic (> 1 GHz) acoustic phonon wavepackets on electron transport in a semiconductor superlattice. Our quantum mechanical simulations demonstrate that a GHz train of picosecond deformation strain pulses propagating through a superlattice can generate current oscillations whose frequency is several times higher than that of the strain pulse train. The shape and polarity of the calculated current pulses agree well with experimentally measured electric signals. The calculations also explain and accurately reproduce the measured variation of the induced current pulse magnitude with the strain pulse amplitude and applied bias voltage. Our results open a route to developing acoustically-driven semiconductor superlattices as sources of millimetre and sub-millimetre electromagnetic waves.
The successful application of titanium oxide-graphene hybrids in the fields of photocatalysis, photovoltaics and photodetection strongly depends on the interfacial contact between both materials. The need to provide a good coupling between the enabling conductor and the photoactive phase prompted us to directly grow conducting graphenic structures on TiO2 crystals. We here report on the direct synthesis of tailored graphenic structures by using Plasma Assisted Chemical Vapour Deposition that present a clean junction with the prototypical titanium oxide (110) surface. Chemical analysis of the interface indicates chemical bonding between both materials. Photocurrent measurements under UV light illumination manifest that the charge transfer across the interface is efficient. Moreover, the influence of the synthesis atmosphere, gas precursor (C2H2) and diluents (Ar, O2), on the interface and on the structure of the as-grown graphenic material is assessed. The inclusion of O2 promotes vertical growth of partially oxidized carbon nanodots/rods with controllable height and density. The deposition with Ar results in continuous graphenic films with low resistivity (6.8x10-6 ohm x m). The synthesis protocols developed here are suitable to produce tailored carbon-semiconductor structures on a variety of practical substrates as thin films, pillars or nanoparticles.
The ferroelectric polarization switching in ferroelectric hafnium zirconium oxide (Hf0.5Zr0.5O2, HZO) in the HZO/Al2O3 ferroelectric/dielectric stack is investigated systematically by capacitance-voltage and polarization-voltage measurements. The thickness of dielectric layer is found to have a determinant impact on the ferroelectric polarization switching of ferroelectric HZO. A suppression of ferroelectricity is observed with thick dielectric layer. In the gate stacks with thin dielectric layers, a full polarization switching of the ferroelectric layer is found possible by the proposed leakage-current-assist mechanism through the ultrathin dielectric layer. Theoretical simulation results agree well with experimental data. This work clarifies some of the critical parts of the long-standing confusions and debating related to negative capacitance field-effect transistors (NC-FETs) concepts and experiments.
Integrating multiple properties in a single system is crucial for the continuous developments in electronic devices. However, some physical properties are mutually exclusive in nature. Here, we report the coexistence of two seemingly mutually exclusive properties-polarity and two-dimensional conductivity-in ferroelectric Ba$_{0.2}$Sr$_{0.8}$TiO$_3$ thin films at the LaAlO$_3$/Ba$_{0.2}$Sr$_{0.8}$TiO$_3$ interface at room temperature. The polarity of a ~3.2 nm Ba$_{0.2}$Sr$_{0.8}$TiO$_3$ thin film is preserved with a two-dimensional mobile carrier density of ~0.05 electron per unit cell. We show that the electronic reconstruction resulting from the competition between the built-in electric field of LaAlO$_3$ and the polarization of Ba$_{0.2}$Sr$_{0.8}$TiO$_3$ is responsible for this unusual two-dimensional conducting polar phase. The general concept of exploiting mutually exclusive properties at oxide interfaces via electronic reconstruction may be applicable to other strongly-correlated oxide interfaces, thus opening windows to new functional nanoscale materials for applications in novel nanoelectronics.
Several sources of noise limit the sensitivity of current gravitational wave detectors. Currently, dominant noise sources include quantum noise and thermal Brownian noise, but future detectors will also be limited by other thermal noise channels. In this paper we study a thermal noise source which is caused by spatial charge carrier density variations in semiconductor materials. We provide an analytical model for the understanding of charge carrier fluctuations under the presence of screening effects and show that charge carrier noise will not be a limiting noise source for third generation gravitational wave detectors.