The tunneling electroresistance effect in a van der Waals ferroelectric tunnel junction based on a graphene/In2Se3/MoS2/graphene heterostructure

In recent years, α-In2Se3 has attracted great attention in miniaturizing nonvolatile random memory devices because of its room temperature ferroelectricity and atomic thickness. In this work, we construct two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures α-In2Se3/MoS2 with different ferroelectric polarization and design a 2D graphene (Gr)/In2Se3/MoS2/Gr ferroelectric tunnel junction (FTJ) with the symmetric electrodes. Our calculations show that the band alignment of the heterostructures can be changed from type-I to type-II accompanied by the reversal of the ferroelectric polarization of In2Se3. Furthermore, the ferroelectricity persists in Gr/In2Se3/MoS2/Gr vdW FTJs, and the presence of dielectric layer MoS2 in the FTJs enables the effective modulation of the tunneling barrier by altering the ferroelectric polarization of α-In2Se3, which results in two distinct conducting states denoted as "ON" and "OFF" with a large tunneling electroresistance (TER) ratio exceeding 105%. These findings suggest the importance of ferroelectric vdW heterostructures in the design of FTJs and propose a promising route for applying the 2D ferroelectric/semiconductor heterostructures with out-of-plane polarization in high-density ferroelectric memory devices.

Effect of vacancy defects on transport in all-phosphorene nanoribbon devices from first principles

Defects in experimentally manufactured phosphorene nanoribbons (PNRs) occur unavoidably, affecting the functionality of PNR-based devices. In this work, we theoretically propose and investigate an all-PNR devices with single-vacancy (SV) defects and double-vacancy (DV) defects along the zigzag direction, accounting for both hydrogen passivation and non-passivation scenarios. We discovered that, in the case of hydrogen passivation, the DV defect can introduce in-gap states, whereas the SV defect can result in p-type doping. The unpassivated hydrogen nanoribbon exhibits an edge state with a considerable influence on the transport properties, which also masks the effect of defects on transport; furthermore, it demonstrates the phenomenon of negative differential resistance, whose occurrence and characteristics depend less on the presence or absence of defects.

Non-equilibrium spin-transport properties of Co/phosphorene/Co MTJ with non-collinear electrodes under mechanical bending

Monolayer phosphorene has outstanding mechanical flexibility, making it rather attractive in flexible spintronics that are based on 2D materials. Here, we report a first-principles study on non-equilibrium electronic-transport properties of the Co/phosphorene/Co magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) with two α-Co electrodes. The magnetic moments of the two electrodes are considered in the parallel configuration (PC) and the anti-parallel configuration (APC). The tunneling current through the MTJ is investigated at a small bias from 0 to 40 mV when mechanical bending is applied on the MTJ with different central angle (θ) values. For both the PC and APC, the tunneling current increases evidently and monotonously with increasing mechanical bending for 25° < θ < 40°, as compared to that without bending, which is mainly due to the reduced tunnel barrier. In the PC, the spin-injection efficiency (SIE) of the current is largely increased at a small bias from 0 to 40 mV for 25° ≤ θ ≤ 30° with a maximum of 90%, while the SIE is overall increased under all mechanical bending angles for the APC. The tunnel magnetoresistance is decreased with an increasing bias voltage, which can be largely enhanced for θ ≥ 25°, especially at small bias. Our results indicate that the Co/phosphorene/Co MTJ has promising applications in flexible low-power spintronic devices.

Substantial and stable magnetoresistance and spin conductance in phosphorene-based spintronic devices with Co electrodes

Designing devices with excellent spin-polarized properties has been a challenge in physics and materials science. In this work, we report a theoretical investigation of the spin injection and spin-polarized transport properties of monolayer and bilayer phosphorene devices with Co electrodes. Based on the analysis of transmission coefficients, spin-polarized current, magnetoresistance (MR) (or tunnel MR) ratio and spin injection efficiency (SIE), both devices show superior spin-polarized transport properties. As phosphorene in the device is changed from monolayer to bilayer, the charge carrier type can be tuned from n-type to p-type. For the monolayer phosphorene device, the tunnel MR ratio reaches about 210% and the SIE is about 80.7% at zero bias. Notably, the SIE and tunnel MR ratio maintain almost constant values against bias voltage and gate voltage, which makes it suitable for magnetic sensors. As for the bilayer phosphorene device, it not only exhibits a considerable tunnel MR ratio, but also shows significantly enhanced conductance, beneficial to the sensitivity of spintronic devices. Further analysis shows that the improvement of conductance is attributed to the low barrier height between the bilayer phosphorene channel and Co electrodes. According to our results, the studied phosphorene devices with Co electrodes demonstrate superior spin injection and transport properties. We believe that these theoretical findings will be a strong asset for future experimental works in spintronics.

Spin transport through metal-dichalcogenides layers: a study from first-principles calculations

Spin transport through monolayer and trilayers of molybdenum dichalcogenides were studied considering Co as leads. Detailed investigations of the electronic structure of the Co/MoS₂ interface and magnetic tri-junctions are carried out by using density functional theory calculations to understand transport behavior. The study revealed that new spin-polarized hybridized states appeared at the Fermi level due to the formation of Co/MoS₂ interface that effectively acted as a spin filter and enhanced the spin injection efficiency of the systems. Spin-polarized current through the system as well as the magnetoresistance (MR) was estimated at different applied bias voltages. Large MR up to 78% was calculated for the trilayer MoS₂ system at a relatively high applied bias voltage. The MR values are further improved by tuning the structure of the scattering region. A very large MR of 123% for MoS₂/MoSe₂/MoS₂ trilayer at an applied bias 0.8 V was observed, which is much higher than the previously reported bias dependent MR values in similar systems.

One- and two-dimensional electrical contacts and transport properties in monolayer black phosphorene-Ni interface

Contacts between black phosphorene (BP) and metal electrodes are critical components of BP-based devices and can dramatically affect device performance. In this paper, we adopted first-principles calculations to explore binding energies, electronic structures, spatial potential distribution of monolayer BP-Ni interfaces in surface contact and edge contact types, and used density functional theoretical coupled with nonequilibrium Green's function method to investigate the electrical transport properties for transport systems of monolayer BP with Ni electrodes. Our calculated results indicate that contact type between monolayer BP and metal Ni electrodes may much affect the transport properties of monolayer BP-Ni devices. Interfacial interaction between Ni and monolayer BP in edge contact type is stronger than that in surface contact type. The potential distributions indicate that edge contact type is more beneficial for reducing contact resistance of monolayer BP-Ni contacts and conducive to improve the performance of BP-Ni electrode device.

First principles modeling of pure black phosphorus devices under pressure

Black phosphorus (BP) has a pressure-dependent bandgap width and shows the potential for applications as a low-dimensional pressure sensor. We built two kinds of pure BP devices with zigzag or armchair conformation, and explored their pressure-dependent conductance in detail by using first principles calculations. The zigzag BP devices and the armchair BP devices exhibit different conductance-pressure relationships. For the zigzag BP devices conductance is robust against stress when the out-of-plane pressure ratio is less than 15%, and then increases rapidly until the conductive channels are fully opened. For the armchair pure BP devices conductance decreases at first by six orders of magnitude under increasing pressure and then increases quickly with further increase of pressure until the devices enter the on-state. This shows that the pure zigzag BP devices are more suitable for the application as flexible electronic devices with almost constant conductance under small pressure, while armchair BP devices can serve as bidirectional pressure sensors. Real-space distributions of band alignments were explored to understand the different pressure-related properties. We fitted a set of parameters based on the results from the empirical Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin method, which provides an effortless approximation to quantitatively predict the pressure-related behaviors of large pure BP devices.

β-As Monolayer: Vibrational Properties and Raman Spectra

Recently, semiconducting and other extraordinary properties of the monolayer of the V-group element have attracted a broad interest and attention. The success of experimentally growing antimonene and black phosphorus makes the arsenic monolayer a reasonable candidate for two-dimensional semiconductors. By using DFT calculation, we investigate the vibrational properties and Raman spectra of the buckled honeycomb monolayer of arsenic (β-As) for four commonly used laser lines. By calculating Raman tensor of each active modes of the β-As monolayer, we obtained polarization angle-dependent Raman intensities when the wave vector of incident light is parallel and perpendicular with the plane of the β-As monolayer. We found that the nonresonant Raman spectra have two peaks at 235 and 305 cm^-1 that correspond to the in-plane vibrating mode E_g and out-of-plane vibrating mode A_1g, which is similar to germanene, blue phosphorene, and β-Sb monolayer Raman spectra. There are two (four) minima and two (four) maxima when the polarization direction of scattered light is parallel (perpendicular) to that of the incident light and the wave vector of the incident light is parallel to the β-As monolayer. The Raman intensities of neither parallel polarization configuration nor perpendicular polarization configuration depend on the polarization direction when the wave vector of incident light is perpendicular to the β-As monolayer. The relation between shapes of the polar plots and relative values of Raman tensor elements is found. The Raman intensities decrease with increasing wavelength of incident laser lines in most cases. Our results will help experimentalists to identify the existence and the orientation of the β-As monolayer while they are growing the β-As monolayer.

A self-powered phosphorene photodetector with excellent spin-filtering and spin-valve effects

Spin-filtering and spin-valve effects are fundamental issues of spintronics in two-dimensional materials, where a self-powered nanotechnology is also highly desired for low-power consumption. Herein, we report a self-powered nickel-phosphorene-nickel photodetector driven by photogalvanic effects (PGEs), based on quantum transport simulations. Persistent photocurrent is generated at zero bias due to PGEs induced by vertical illumination with linearly and elliptically polarized light. Moreover, fully spin-polarized photocurrent and large magnetoresistance can be obtained by tunneling the photon energy and light polarization, which indicates both excellent spin-filtering and spin-valve effects. These results suggest a promising application of PGE-driven phosphorene photodetectors in low energy-consumption spintronic devices.

High TMR in MXene-Based Mn2CF2/Ti2CO2/Mn2CF2 Magnetic Tunneling Junction

We suggest an MXene-based magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) design. The device characteristics of the MTJ were investigated by nonequilibrium Green's function formalism within the density functional theory. Inspired by the first synthesized magnetic MAX crystal of Mn₂GaC, its two-dimensional (2D) counterpart of the half-metallic Mn₂CF₂ MXene layer was selected as the magnetic electrode. The tunneling barrier was chosen as Ti₂CO₂ MXene, which is one of the most studied MXenes in experimental and theoretical works. It is beneficial that both the electrodes and the tunneling barrier are 2D materials from the same material family and have similar structures. The common device problem of lattice mismatch does not occur in our MTJ design because the lattice parameters are compatible. In addition, the band gap of Ti₂CO₂ tunneling barrier is almost the same as the half-metallic gap of Mn₂CF₂ electrodes. Both the barrier and the electrodes have a common C layer that contributes the most to the transmission. Our MTJ design consists of structurally and electronically well-matched components. We find that the tunneling magnetoresistance ratio has a peak value of ≈10⁶ and stays higher than ≈10³ under the bias voltages up to 1 V. Since the applied bias voltages are within the energy gap of the tunneling barrier, the half-metallic character of the conduction is preserved up to 1 V. The tunneling-based transmission was observed in all of the three devices with varying tunneling barrier widths, and the current decreases with increasing width. The MXene-based MTJ has promising device characteristics.

All-phosphorus flexible devices with non-collinear electrodes: a first principles study

With the continuous expansion of the family of two-dimensional (2D) materials, flexible electronics based on 2D materials have quickly emerged. Theoretically, predicting the transport properties of the flexible devices made up of 2D materials using first principles is of great importance. Using density functional theory combined with the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism, we calculated the transport properties of all-phosphorus flexible devices with non-collinear electrodes, and the results predicted that the device with compressed metallic phosphorene electrodes sandwiching a P-type semiconducting phosphorene shows a better and robust conducting behavior against the bending of the semiconducting region when the angle between the two electrodes is less than 45°, which indicates that this system is very promising for flexible electronics. The calculation of a quantum transport system with non-collinear electrodes demonstrated in this work will provide more interesting information on mesoscopic material systems and related devices.

Designing lateral spintronic devices with giant tunnel magnetoresistance and perfect spin injection efficiency based on transition metal dichalcogenides

A robust spin-filtering device based on two-dimensional TMDs.

Remarkable negative differential resistance and perfect spin-filtering effects of the indium triphosphide (InP3) monolayer tuned by electric and optical ways

Fully spin-polarized current and negative differential resistance (NDR) are two important electronic transport properties for spintronic nanodevices based on two-dimensional materials.

Effect of molybdenum disulfide nanoribbon on quantum transport of graphene

Based on the density functional theory method in combination with the nonequilibrium green's function formalism, the quantum transport properties in graphene-[Formula: see text] vertical heterojunction were investigated in this work. The leads are boron doped graphene and seamlessly connect to the graphene nanoribbon in central scattering region. Although there is a weak graphene-[Formula: see text] interaction, molybdenum disulfide can smooth the electrostatic potential and enlarge the transport properties of the whole device. However, another competitive factor is that of the edge states of the [Formula: see text] nanoribbon. When the transport is along the zigzag direction of graphene, the armchair [Formula: see text] nanoribbon simply enlarges the transmission coefficient. Nevertheless, in the armchair transport system, there is an asymmetric electrostatic potential induced by the different atomic potentials of S and Mo atoms at both edges in the zigzag [Formula: see text] nanoribbon, whose potential can lead to obvious scattering from graphene to [Formula: see text] and suppress the transmission probability. Therefore, it also suppresses the influence of zigzag [Formula: see text] nanoribbon on the transmission coefficient. Our first principles simulations provide useful predictions for the application of graphene based emerging electronics, which may stimulate further experimental exploration.

Composition dependent band offsets of ZnO and its ternary alloys

We report the calculated fundamental band gaps of wurtzite ternary alloys Zn_1-xM_xO (M = Mg, Cd) and the band offsets of the ZnO/Zn_1-xM_xO heterojunctions, these II-VI materials are important for electronics and optoelectronics. Our calculation is based on density functional theory within the linear muffin-tin orbital (LMTO) approach where the modified Becke-Johnson (MBJ) semi-local exchange is used to accurately produce the band gaps, and the coherent potential approximation (CPA) is applied to deal with configurational average for the ternary alloys. The combined LMTO-MBJ-CPA approach allows one to simultaneously determine both the conduction band and valence band offsets of the heterojunctions. The calculated band gap data of the ZnO alloys scale as E_g = 3.35 + 2.33x and E_g = 3.36 - 2.33x + 1.77x² for Zn_1-xMg_xO and Zn_1-xCd_xO, respectively, where x being the impurity concentration. These scaling as well as the composition dependent band offsets are quantitatively compared to the available experimental data. The capability of predicting the band parameters and band alignments of ZnO and its ternary alloys with the LMTO-CPA-MBJ approach indicate the promising application of this method in the design of emerging electronics and optoelectronics.