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Multifunctional high-performance van der Waals heterostructures

Nature Nanotechnology volume 12, pages 1148–1154 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

A range of novel two-dimensional materials have been actively explored for More Moore and More-than-Moore device applications because of their ability to form van der Waals heterostructures with unique electronic properties. However, most of the reported electronic devices exhibit insufficient control of multifunctional operations. Here, we leverage the band-structure alignment properties of narrow-bandgap black phosphorus and large-bandgap molybdenum disulfide to realize vertical heterostructures with an ultrahigh rectifying ratio approaching 106 and on–off ratio up to 107. Furthermore, we design and fabricate tunable multivalue inverters, in which the output logic state and window of the mid-logic can be controlled by specific pairs of channel length and, most importantly, by the electric field, which shifts the band-structure alignment across the heterojunction. Finally, high gains over 150 are achieved in the inverters with optimized device geometries, showing great potential for future logic applications.

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Figure 1: Heterostructure schematics and material characterization.
Figure 2: Electronic properties of VFET.
Figure 3: Electronic properties of the lateral HJFET.
Figure 4: Tunable multi-value inverter.
Figure 5: Tunable ternary inverter.
Figure 6: High-performance binary inverter.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank L. Li, S. Li and X. Wang for helpful discussions and technical support, the staff in ‘Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center’ for technical support during low-temperature electrical measurements, the staff at the ‘Center of Micro-fabrication and Characterization of Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics’ and ‘Huazhong University of Science and Technology Analytical and Testing Center’ for support with electron-beam lithography, electron-beam evaporation and Raman measurements. This project is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 61574066, 61390504 and 11404118).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wuhan National High Magnetic Field Center and School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Mingqiang Huang, Shengman Li, Zhenfeng Zhang, Xiong Xiong, Xuefei Li & Yanqing Wu

  2. School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Xuefei Li & Yanqing Wu

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  1. Mingqiang Huang
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Contributions

Y.W. conceived the project. M.H. transferred the heterostructures and fabricated the devices. M.H. and S.L. performed optical characterizations and electrical measurements. M.H., X.L. and Y.W. analysed the data. Z.Z. grew the CVD MoS2 and X.X. grew the high-κ dielectric layers. M.H. and Y.W. co-wrote the paper. All authors contributed to discussions about the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yanqing Wu.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Huang, M., Li, S., Zhang, Z. et al. Multifunctional high-performance van der Waals heterostructures. Nature Nanotech 12, 1148–1154 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2017.208

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