Carrier sheet density constrained anomalous current saturation of graphene field effect transistors: kinks and negative differential resistances

Modulation of Negative Differential Resistance in Black Phosphorus Transistors

Negative differential resistance (NDR), which describes the current decrease as the applied bias increases, holds great potential for varieties of electronic applications including radio-frequency oscillators, multipliers, and multivalue logics. Here, the modulation of a unique NDR effect in ambipolar black phosphorus (BP) transistors is reported, which is activated by specific electrical field dependence of lateral carrier distribution and is distinct from conventional NDR devices that rely on quantum tunneling. The NDR device exhibits a high peak current density (34 µA µm^-1 ) and a high operating temperature. More importantly, due to the strong coupling between the channel and the gate electrode, both the NDR peak current and peak/valley voltages can be effectively modulated by the electrostatic gate. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that light can serve as an additional terminal for NDR modulation. The findings could provide an important insight into the transport behavior of BP transistors and contribute to the design of ambipolar-semiconductor-based electrical circuits.

Low-Voltage-Operated Highly Sensitive Graphene Hall Elements by Ionic Gating

The advanced Hall magnetic sensor using an ion-gated graphene field-effect transistor demonstrates a high current-normalized sensitivity larger than 3000 V/AT and low operation voltages smaller than 0.5 V. From commercially available graphene-on-SiO₂ wafers, large-area arrays of ion-gated graphene Hall element (ig-GHE) samples are prepared through complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible fabrication processes except the final addition of ionic liquid electrolyte covering the exposed graphene channel and the separate gate-electrode area. The enhanced carrier tunability by ionic gating enables this ig-GHE device to be extremely sensitive to magnetic fields in low-voltage-operation regimes. Further electrical characterization indicates that the operation window is limited by the nonuniform carrier concentration over the channel under high bias conditions. The drain-current-normalized magnetic resolution of the device measured using the low-frequency noise technique is comparable to the previously reported values despite its significant low power consumption.

Implementation of Outstanding Electronic Transport in Polar Covalent Boron Nitride Atomic Chains: another Extraordinary Odd-Even Behaviour

A theoretical investigation of the unique electronic transport properties of the junctions composed of boron nitride atomic chains bridging symmetric graphene electrodes with point-contacts is executed through non-equilibrium Green's function technique in combination with density functional theory. Compared with carbon atomic chains, the boron nitride atomic chains have an alternative arrangement of polar covalent B-N bonds and different contacts coupling electrodes, showing some unusual properties in functional atomic electronic devices. Remarkably, they have an extraordinary odd-even behavior of conductivity with the length increase. The rectification character and negative differential resistance of nonlinear current-voltage characteristics can be achieved by manipulating the type of contacts between boron nitride atomic chains bridges and electrodes. The junctions with asymmetric contacts have an intrinsic rectification, caused by stronger coupling in the C-N contact than the C-B contact. On the other hand, for symmetric contact junctions, it is confirmed that the transport properties of the junctions primarily depend on the nature of contacts. The junctions with symmetric C-N contacts have higher conductivity than their C-B contacts counterparts. Furthermore, the negative differential resistances of the junctions with only C-N contacts is very conspicuous and can be achieved at lower bias.

Graphene/Pentacene Barristor with Ion-Gel Gate Dielectric: Flexible Ambipolar Transistor with High Mobility and On/Off Ratio

High-quality channel layer is required for next-generation flexible electronic devices. Graphene is a good candidate due to its high carrier mobility and unique ambipolar transport characteristics but typically shows a low on/off ratio caused by gapless band structure. Popularly investigated organic semiconductors, such as pentacene, suffer from poor carrier mobility. Here, we propose a graphene/pentacene channel layer with high-k ion-gel gate dielectric. The graphene/pentacene device shows both high on/off ratio and carrier mobility as well as excellent mechanical flexibility. Most importantly, it reveals ambipolar behaviors and related negative differential resistance, which are controlled by external bias. Therefore, our graphene/pentacene barristor with ion-gel gate dielectric can offer various flexible device applications with high performances.

Half-filled energy bands induced negative differential resistance in nitrogen-doped graphene

Nitrogen-doping brings novel properties and promising applications into graphene, but the underlying mechanism is still in debate. To determine the key factor in motivating the negative differential resistance (NDR) behaviour of nitrogen-doped graphene, the electronic structure and transport properties of an 11-dimer wide nitrogen-doped armchair graphene nanoribbon (N-AGNR) were systematically studied by first principles calculations. Both the effect of interaction between N-dopants and the effect of doping-sublattice on the NDR were examined for the first time. Taking into account the two effects, N-AGNR becomes metallic or semiconducting depending on the doping configuration, and its Fermi level varies in a large range. NDR was firmly verified not to be intrinsic for N-AGNRs. However, it is totally determined by whether nitrogen-doping induces half-filled energy bands (HFEBs) because it is HFEBs that cross the Fermi level and determine the transport properties of N-AGNR under low biases. With the bias increasing, the transmission spectrum near the Fermi level showed a flag shape, and therefore, the corresponding transport channel is totally suppressed at a certain bias, resulting in the NDR behaviour with a configuration-dependent peak-to-valley current ratio (PVCR) up to 10(4). Our findings give new insights into the microscopic mechanism of chemical doping induced NDR behaviour and will be useful in building NDR-based nanodevices in the future.

Nonlinear current-voltage characteristics and enhanced negative differential conductance in graphene field effect transistors

Recent observations of the negative differential conductance (NDC) phenomenon in graphene field-effect transistors (FET) open up new opportunities for their application in graphene-based fast switches, frequency multipliers and, most importantly, in high frequency oscillators up to the terahertz regime. Unlike conventional two-terminal NDC devices that rely on resonant tunneling and inter-valley transferring, in the present work, it has been shown that the universal NDC phenomenon of graphene-based FETs originates from their intrinsic nonlinear carrier transport under a strong electric field. The operation of graphene-NDC devices depends strongly on the interface between graphene and dielectric materials, the scattering-limited carrier mobility, and on the saturation velocity. To reveal such NDC behavior, the output characteristics of GFET are investigated rigorously, with both an analytical model and self-consistent transport equation, and with a multi-electrical parameter simulation. It is demonstrated that the contact-induced doping effect plays an important role in the operational efficiency of graphene-based NDC devices, rather than the ambipolar behavior associated with the competition between electron and hole conductances. In the absence of a NDC regime or beyond one, ambipolar transport starts at Vds > 2Vgs at the drain end, and as the dielectric layer begins to thin down, the kink-like saturation output characteristic is enhanced by the quantum capacitance contribution. These observations reveal the intrinsic mechanism of the NDC effect and open up new opportunities for the performance improvement of GFETs in future high-frequency applications, beyond the current paradigm based on two-terminal diodes.

Homo- and hetero- p-n junctions formed on graphene steps

p-n junction is a fundamental building block in modern electronic circuits. We report graphene p-n junctions formed by a one-step thickness-dependent surface treatment of mono-/bilayer graphene steps. The junction electronic properties are systemically studied by means of Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) and transport measurements. Because of the dissimilar modifications to graphene electronic properties, the junctions behave distinctly, i.e., two-component resistance-like for organic charge transfer doping and Shottky-junction-like for covalent doping. By exploring the spatially potential distribution, we clarify the potential profiles as well as the transport attributes across the graphene p-n junction interface under lateral bias and electrical gating. Our results not only unveil the detailed properties of graphene p-n junction interface, but also gain an insight into its practical applications in nanoelectronics.