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2D ferroelectrics

One material, three phases

Nature Reviews Materials volume 8, page 7 (2023)Cite this article

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2D ferroelectric materials hold promise for ferroelectric field-effect transistors; in particular, In2Se3 is appealing because of its very high carrier mobility. Moreover, In2Se3 can switch between three phases with distinct properties — ferroelectric (α), paraelectric (β) and antiferroelectric (β′) — that have similar energy, facilitating phase transitions. However, synthesizing large-area, phase-pure 2D In2Se3 films is challenging. Thuc Hue Ly, Ming Yang, Jiong Zhao and colleagues now report the phase-controlled synthesis of centimetre-scale 2D In2Se3 films in all three phases. They used chemical vapour deposition to grow centimetre-scale 2D β-In2Se3; then, by adding InSe power in the source, and hence introducing a Se deficiency, they induced a transformation to β′-In2Se3. Finally, by applying mechanical strain, they obtained α-In2Se3. Ferroelectric field-effect transistors fabricated with the α and β′ films exhibited good performance and robust cycling; substituting the single-phase materials with a β′–α heterophase junction led to even better performance. Such devices could find use in non-volatile memories and next-generation in-memory computing.

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  1. Nature Reviews Materials http://www.nature.com/natrevmats/

    Giulia Pacchioni

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  1. Giulia Pacchioni
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Correspondence to Giulia Pacchioni.

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Pacchioni, G. One material, three phases. Nat Rev Mater 8, 7 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-022-00524-y

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