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Two-dimensional perovskite oxide as a photoactive high-κ gate dielectric

Abstract

High dielectric constant (high-κ) gate dielectrics compatible with two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors are essential for scaled optoelectronic devices. However, conventional three-dimensional dielectrics are difficult to integrate with 2D materials with dangling-bond-free surfaces. Here we show that the 2D perovskite oxide Sr2Nb3O10, prepared by a top-down approach, can be integrated with various 2D channel materials. The high dielectric constant (24.6) and moderate bandgap of Sr2Nb3O10 allow it to be used as a photoactive high-κ dielectric for phototransistors with various 2D channel materials, including graphene, molybdenum disulfide, tungsten disulfide and tungsten diselenide. Molybdenum disulfide transistors exhibit an on/off ratio of 106 with a supply voltage of 2 V and a subthreshold swing of 88 mV dec−1. Tungsten disulfide phototransistors exhibit a photocurrent-to-dark-current ratio of ~106 and ultraviolet (UV) responsivity of 5.5 × 103 A W−1 under visible or UV light illumination, due to the combined effect of gate control and charge transfer from the photoactive gate dielectric. We also show that the phototransistors with the photoactive dielectric can offer UV–visible dual-band photodetection, where UV and visible light illumination are distinguished at separate terminals.

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Fig. 1: Preparation and characterization of SNO nanosheets.
Fig. 2: Dielectric properties of SNO.
Fig. 3: Dual-gate MoS2 phototransistors with SNO top-gate dielectric.
Fig. 4: Photoresponse of dual-gate MoS2 phototransistors with SNO top-gate dielectric.
Fig. 5: Electrical characteristics and photoresponse of dual-gate WS2 phototransistors with SNO top-gate dielectric.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant Nos. 92263106, 12061131009 and 12211530438), National Key Research and Development Programme of China (grant No. 2022YFA1402900) and Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (grant Nos. 21520712600 and 19520744300).

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X.F. and S.L. conceived the idea and designed the experiments. S.L. and X.L. synthesized the materials and fabricated the devices under X.F.’s supervision. X.L., S.L. and H.Y. performed the electrical measurements and analysis. H.Z. performed the SEM and AFM characterizations. S.L. and X.L. wrote the paper under the supervision of X.F. All the authors contributed to the discussion and checked the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiaosheng Fang.

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Nature Electronics thanks Zhiyong Fan, Hai-Feng Lu, Jiabao Yi and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Figs. 1–15, Discussion, Tables 1–2 and References.

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Li, S., Liu, X., Yang, H. et al. Two-dimensional perovskite oxide as a photoactive high-κ gate dielectric. Nat Electron 7, 216–224 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-024-01129-9

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