Nanoscale devices articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here, the authors report the synthesis and characterization of doped nanoporous graphene superlattices, showing their improved properties for electromagnetic shielding, energy harvesting, optoelectronic and thermoelectric applications.

    • Hualiang Lv
    • , Yuxing Yao
    •  & Xiaoguang Wang
  • Article
    | Open Access

    2D vertical transport transistors (VTFETs) may promote the downscaling of electronic devices, but their performance is usually restricted by the thermionic limit. Here, the authors report the realization of short-channel steep-slope VTFETs based on MoS2/MoTe2 heterojunctions integrated with resistance threshold switching cells.

    • Qiyu Yang
    • , Zheng-Dong Luo
    •  & Genquan Han
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Charge-to-spin conversion allows for the generation and control of spin polarization via a charge current. Typically, this is done with non-magnetic materials with large spin-orbit interactions such as Platinum. Herein, Dai et al demonstrate an intriguing charge-to-spin mechanism, a magnetic spin Hall effect, in a van der Waals heterostructure.

    • Yudi Dai
    • , Junlin Xiong
    •  & Feng Miao
  • Article
    | Open Access

    By coupling a spin-qubit to a superconducting resonator, remote spin-entanglement becomes feasible. Here, Ungerer et al achieve strong coupling between a superconducting resonator and a singlet-triplet spin qubit, in an InAs nanowire.

    • J. H. Ungerer
    • , A. Pally
    •  & C. Schönenberger
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Highly polarized nuclear spins can supress decoherence of electron spin qubits, but this requires near-unity polarization. Here the authors implement a protocol combining optical excitation and fast carrier tunnelling to achieve nuclear spin polarizations above 95% in GaAs quantum dots on a timescale of 1 minute.

    • Peter Millington-Hotze
    • , Harry E. Dyte
    •  & Evgeny A. Chekhovich
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Exceptional points emerge in systems with loss and gain when loss and gain in the system are balanced. Due to the careful balancing involved, they are highly sensitive to perturbations, making them exceptionally useful for sensors and other devices. Here, Wittrock et al observe a variety of complex dynamics associated with exceptional points in coupled spintronic nano-oscillators.

    • Steffen Wittrock
    • , Salvatore Perna
    •  & Vincent Cros
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Artificial spin ices are nanomagnetic metamaterials, whose collective magnetization self-organizes into extended domains. However, controlling when, where and how domains change has proven difficult, yet is crucial for technological applications. Here, Jensen and Strømberg et al. introduce astroid clocking, which enables controlled, stepwise growth and reversal of magnetic domains, using only global fields.

    • Johannes H. Jensen
    • , Anders Strømberg
    •  & Erik Folven
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Achieving genetic circuits on single DNA molecules could have varied applications. Here, authors observed proteins emerging from single DNA molecules through coupled transcription-translation complexes, and show that nascent proteins lingered on DNA, regulating cascaded reactions on the same DNA and allowing the design of a pulsatile genetic circuit.

    • Ferdinand Greiss
    • , Nicolas Lardon
    •  & Roy Bar-Ziv
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Existing neuromorphic hardware, focusing mainly on shallow-reservoir computing, is challenged in providing adequate spatial and temporal scales characteristic for effective computing. Here, Gao et al. report an ultra-short channel organic neuromorphic vertical transistor with distributed reservoir states.

    • Changsong Gao
    • , Di Liu
    •  & Huipeng Chen
  • Article
    | Open Access

    L. Rocchino et al. experimentally demonstrate a magnetic field effect transistor based on the Weyl semimetal NbP as the active channel material. A gate magnetic field is generated by current flowing in an integrated superconductor NbN. The device operation relies on the extreme magnetoresistance of the NbP.

    • Lorenzo Rocchino
    • , Federico Balduini
    •  & Cezar B. Zota
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantum devices exhibiting non-reciprocal behaviour have been attracting attention for fundamental studies and applications. Here the authors report a microwave quantum diode based on a superconducting flux qubit coupled to two resonators, which has the advantage of compactness and scalability.

    • Rishabh Upadhyay
    • , Dmitry S. Golubev
    •  & Jukka P. Pekola
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Organic neural implants hold considerable promise for biocompatible neural interfaces. Here, the authors employ polymer-based organic electrochemical diodes and transistors to develop neuron-sized complex circuits, enabling multiplexing without crosstalk and demonstrate that, when integrated onto ultra-thin plastic, these circuits achieve high performance while maintaining minimal invasiveness.

    • Ilke Uguz
    • , David Ohayon
    •  & Kenneth L. Shepard
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The simultaneous scaling down of the channel length and gate length of 2D transistors remains challenging. Here, the authors report a self-alignment process to fabricate vertical MoS2 transistors with sub-1 nm gate length and sub−50 nm channel length, exhibiting on-off ratios over 105 and on-state currents of 250 μA/μm at 4 V bias.

    • Liting Liu
    • , Yang Chen
    •  & Yuan Liu
  • Article
    | Open Access

    M. Valentini et al. study superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) where the weak link of the Josephson junctions is a germanium 2D hole gas. They report signatures of the tunneling of pairs of Cooper pairs. For a particular microwave drive power, they observe a 100% efficient superconducting diode effect.

    • Marco Valentini
    • , Oliver Sagi
    •  & Georgios Katsaros
  • Article
    | Open Access

    No preventive treatment addresses the underlying condition that leads to cardiac arrest. Here, researchers developed an injectable hydrogel electrode that achieves pacing that mimics physiological conduction with the potential to eliminate lethal arrhythmias and provide painless defibrillation.

    • Gabriel J. Rodriguez-Rivera
    • , Allison Post
    •  & Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Designing memristor-integrated passive crossbar arrays to accelerate artificial neural networks with high reliability remains a challenge. Here, the authors propose a self-rectifying resistive switching device incorporated into a crossbar array with a density of 1 kb whose operational performance is assessed in terms of defected-cell proportion, reading margin, and selection functionality.

    • Kanghyeok Jeon
    • , Jin Joo Ryu
    •  & Gun Hwan Kim
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wavefront manipulation with metasurfaces is typically limited to low quality factors. Here, the authors show how higher-order Mie modes can be leveraged to design high quality factor optical metasurfaces for wavefront manipulation in two dimensions.

    • Claudio U. Hail
    • , Morgan Foley
    •  & Harry A. Atwater
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Shortening the inter-spin distance is an effective way to enhance magnetic coupling. However, it is typically challenging to change the inter-ion distance in most magnetic systems. Here, Huang et al present a strategy for enhancing magnetic interactions, by confining a molecular magnetic system inside a carbon fullerene cage, leading to enhanced magnetic properties.

    • Chenli Huang
    • , Rong Sun
    •  & Song Gao
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Designing efficient nanoscale and adaptable bioinspired memristors remains a challenge. Here, the authors develop a bioinspired hydrophobically gated memristive nanopore capable of learning, forgetting, and retaining memory through an electrowetting mechanism.

    • Gonçalo Paulo
    • , Ke Sun
    •  & Alberto Giacomello
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Existing solutions based Advanced Encryption Standard to address the security issues of nonvolatile memories incurs significant performance and power overhead. Here, the authors propose a lightweight XOR-gate based encryption/decryption technique by exploiting in-situ array operations, which achieves significant area/latency/power reduction compared to conventional designs.

    • Yixin Xu
    • , Yi Xiao
    •  & Kai Ni
  • Article
    | Open Access

    S. Matsuo et al. report tunneling spectroscopy measurements on a device consisting of two Josephson junctions (JJ) sharing a single superconducting electrode. In isolation, each JJ would host an Andreev bound state (ABS). In their coherently-coupled JJs, the authors report the formation of an Andreev molecule due to hybridization of the two ABSs.

    • Sadashige Matsuo
    • , Takaya Imoto
    •  & Seigo Tarucha
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ferroelectric transistors are promising building blocks for developing energy-efficient memory and logic applications. Here, the authors report a record high 300 K resistance on-off ratio achieved in ferroelectric-gated Mott transistors by exploiting a charge transfer layer to tailor the channel carrier density and mitigate the ferroelectric depolarization effect.

    • Yifei Hao
    • , Xuegang Chen
    •  & Xia Hong
  • Article
    | Open Access

    A fundamental challenge for molecular electronics is the change in photophysical properties of molecules upon direct electrical contact. Here, the authors observe hot luminescence emitted by single-molecule chromophores that are electrically and mechanically self-decoupled by a tripodal scaffold.

    • Vibhuti Rai
    • , Nico Balzer
    •  & Michal Valášek
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Resistive switching of 1T-TaS2 is promising for next-generation electronics. Here, using in operando electron microscopy, the authors determine that Joule heating drives the switching process, which will aid the engineering of future devices.

    • James L. Hart
    • , Saif Siddique
    •  & Judy J. Cha
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Layered thio- and seleno-phosphate ferroelectrics show promise for next-generation memory but have thermal stability issues. Using the electric field-driven phase transition in antiferroelectric CuCrP2S6, the authors introduce a robust memristor, emphasizing the potential of van der Waals antiferroelectrics in advanced neuromorphic computing.

    • Yinchang Ma
    • , Yuan Yan
    •  & Xixiang Zhang
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors demonstrate a large ensemble of quantum dots which is characterized using a cryogenic multiplexer-demultiplexer circuit based on selective area growth nanowires, establishing the feasibility of scaling future quantum circuits.

    • Dāgs Olšteins
    • , Gunjan Nagda
    •  & Thomas S. Jespersen
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Colloidal quantum dots remain unexplored for applications in single-electron devices. Here, the authors demonstrate single-electron transistors using single PbS colloidal quantum dot, highlighting their room-temperature operation.

    • Kenji Shibata
    • , Masaki Yoshida
    •  & Yoshihiro Iwasa
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Body area networks represent a wearable technology suitable for applications like virtual reality and health monitoring. Here, the study presents a wireless battery-free channel that works reliably in harsh environments, including underwater. It utilizes stretchable magneto-inductive metamaterials to enable uninterrupted communication.

    • Amirhossein Hajiaghajani
    • , Patrick Rwei
    •  & Peter Tseng
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors study transport in Nb-(Pt/Cu)-Nb Josephson junctions (JJ), where Pt/Cu is a Rashba interface. Due to the Rashba–Edelstein effect, a charge current leads to a non-equilibrium spin moment at the Pt/Cu interface, which can be measured from a shift of the Fraunhofer pattern of the JJ.

    • Tapas Senapati
    • , Ashwin Kumar Karnad
    •  & Kartik Senapati
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Artificial sensory systems are typically limited by their performance and response to static and dynamic stimuli. Here, Bai et al. propose an iontronic slip-sensor, which responds to both static pressure and high-frequency vibrations up to 400 Hz, achieving high spatiotemporal resolution for texture recognition.

    • Ningning Bai
    • , Yiheng Xue
    •  & Chuan Fei Guo
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Two-dimensional magnets and superconductors are emerging as tunable building blocks for quantum computing and superconducting spintronic devices. Here, Jo et al. demonstrate NbSe2/CrSBr van der Waals superconducting spin valves that exhibit infinite magnetoresistance and nonreciprocal charge transport, arising from a unique metamagnetic transition in CrSBr.

    • Junhyeon Jo
    • , Yuan Peisen
    •  & Luis E. Hueso
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Probabilistic computing has recently emerged as a promising energy-based computing system for solving non-deterministic polynomial-time-hard (NP-hard) problems. Here the authors develop a novel pbit unit, using NbOx volatile memristor, in which a self-clocking oscillator harnesses noise-induced metal-insulator transition, enabling high-performance probabilistic computing.

    • Hakseung Rhee
    • , Gwangmin Kim
    •  & Kyung Min Kim
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Designing efficient 3D artificial neural networks chip remains a challenge. Here, the authors report a M3D-LIME chip with monolithic three-dimensional integration of hybrid memory architecture based on resistive random-access memory, which achieves a high classification accuracy of 96% in one-shot learning task while exhibiting 18.3× higher energy efficiency than GPU.

    • Yijun Li
    • , Jianshi Tang
    •  & Huaqiang Wu