No Arabic abstract
A negative capacitance has been observed in a nano-colloid between 0.1 and 10^-5 Hz. The response is linear over a broad range of conditions. The low-omega dispersions of both the resistance and capacitance are consistent with the free-carrier plasma model, while the transient behavior demonstrates an unusual energy storage mechanism. A collective excitation, therefore, is suggested.
Crystalline materials with broken inversion symmetry can exhibit a spontaneous electric polarization, which originates from a microscopic electric dipole moment. Long-range polar or anti-polar order of such permanent dipoles gives rise to ferroelectricity or antiferroelectricity, respectively. However, the recently discovered antiferroelectrics of fluorite structure (HfO$_2$ and ZrO$_2$) are different: A non-polar phase transforms into a polar phase by spontaneous inversion symmetry breaking upon the application of an electric field. Here, we show that this structural transition in antiferroelectric ZrO$_2$ gives rise to a negative capacitance, which is promising for overcoming the fundamental limits of energy efficiency in electronics. Our findings provide insight into the thermodynamically forbidden region of the antiferroelectric transition in ZrO$_2$ and extend the concept of negative capacitance beyond ferroelectricity. This shows that negative capacitance is a more general phenomenon than previously thought and can be expected in a much broader range of materials exhibiting structural phase transitions.
Steep-slope $beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ nano-membrane negative capacitance field-effect transistors (NC-FETs) are demonstrated with ferroelectric hafnium zirconium oxide in gate dielectric stack. Subthreshold slope less than 60 mV/dec at room temperature is obtained for both forward and reverse gate voltage sweeps with a minimum value of 34.3 mV/dec at reverse gate voltage sweep and 53.1 mV/dec at forward gate voltage sweep at $V_{DS}$=0.5 V. Enhancement-mode operation with threshold voltage ~0.4 V is achieved by tuning the thickness of $beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ membrane. Low hysteresis of less than 0.1 V is obtained. The steep-slope, low hysteresis and enhancement-mode $beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ NC-FETs are promising as nFET candidate for future wide bandgap CMOS logic applications.
Large capacitance enhancement is useful for increasing the gate capacitance of field-effect transistors (FETs) to produce low-energy-consuming devices with improved gate controllability. We report strong capacitance enhancement effects in a newly emerged two-dimensional channel material, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). The enhancement effects are due to strong electron-electron interaction at the low carrier density regime in MoS2. We achieve about 50% capacitance enhancement in monolayer devices and 10% capacitance enhancement in bilayer devices. However, the enhancement effect is not obvious in multilayer (layer number >3) devices. Using the Hartree-Fock approximation, we illustrate the same trend in our inverse compressibility data.
The pressing quest for overcoming Boltzmann tyranny in low-power nanoscale electronics revived the thoughts of engineers of early 1930-s on the possibility of negative circuit constants. The concept of the ferroelectric-based negative capacitance (NC) devices triggered explosive activity in the field. However, most of the research addressed transient NC, leaving the basic question of the existence of the steady-state NC unresolved. Here we demonstrate that the ferroelectric nanodot capacitor hosts a stable two-domain state realizing the static reversible NC device thus opening routes for the extensive use of the NC in domain wall-based nanoelectronics.
It is well known that one needs an external source of energy to provide voltage amplification. Because of this, conventional circuit elements such as resistors, inductors or capacitors cannot provide amplification all by themselves. Here, we demonstrate that a ferroelectric can cause a differential amplification without needing such an external energy source. As the ferroelectric switches from one polarization state to the other, a transfer of energy takes place from the ferroelectric to the dielectric, determined by the ratio of their capacitances, which, in turn, leads to the differential amplification. {This amplification is very different in nature from conventional inductor-capacitor based circuits where an oscillatory amplification can be observed. The demonstration of differential voltage amplification from completely passive capacitor elements only, has fundamental ramifications for next generation electronics.