Steep-slope vertical-transport transistors built from sub-5 nm Thin van der Waals heterostructures.

Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor-based vertical-transport field-effect transistors (VTFETs) - in which the current flows perpendicularly to the substrate surface direction - are in the drive to surmount the stringent downscaling constraints faced by the conventional planar FETs. However, low-power device operation with a sub-60 mV/dec subthreshold swing (SS) at room temperature along with an ultra-scaled channel length remains challenging for 2D semiconductor-based VTFETs. Here, we report steep-slope VTFETs that combine a gate-controllable van der Waals heterojunction and a metal-filamentary threshold switch (TS), featuring a vertical transport channel thinner than 5 nm and sub-thermionic turn-on characteristics. The integrated TS-VTFETs were realised with efficient current switching behaviours, exhibiting a current modulation ratio exceeding 1 × 108 and an average sub-60 mV/dec SS over 6 decades of drain current. The proposed TS-VTFETs with excellent area- and energy-efficiency could help to tackle the performance degradation-device downscaling dilemma faced by logic transistor technologies.

Engineering Sub-Nanometer Hafnia-Based Ferroelectrics to Break the Scaling Relation for High-Efficiency Piezocatalytic Water Splitting.

Reversible control of ferroelectric polarization is essential to overcome the heterocatalytic kinetic limitation. This can be achieved by creating a surface with switchable electron density; however, owing to the rigidity of traditional ferroelectric oxides, achieving polarization reversal in piezocatalytic processes remains challenging. Herein, sub-nanometer-sized Hf0.5 Zr0.5 O2 (HZO) nanowires with a polymer-like flexibility are synthesized. Oxygen K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy and negative spherical aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy reveal an orthorhombic (Pca21 ) ferroelectric phase of the HZO sub-nanometer wires (SNWs). The ferroelectric polarization of the flexible HZO SNWs can be easily switched by slight external vibration, resulting in dynamic modulation of the binding energy of adsorbates and thus breaking the "scaling relationship" during piezocatalysis. Consequently, the as-synthesized ultrathin HZO nanowires display superb water-splitting activity, with H2 production rate of 25687 µmol g-1  h-1 under 40 kHz ultrasonic vibration, which is 235 and 41 times higher than those of non-ferroelectric hafnium oxides and rigid BaTiO3 nanoparticles, respectively. More strikingly, the hydrogen production rates can reach 5.2 µmol g-1  h-1 by addition of stirring exclusively.

Emerging roles of non-coding RNAs in colorectal cancer oxaliplatin resistance and liquid biopsy potential.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies of the digestive tract, with the annual incidence and mortality increasing consistently. Oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy is a preferred therapeutic regimen for patients with advanced CRC. However, most patients will inevitably develop resistance to oxaliplatin. Many studies have reported that non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), such as microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, and circular RNAs, are extensively involved in cancer progression. Moreover, emerging evidence has revealed that ncRNAs mediate chemoresistance to oxaliplatin by transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation, and by epigenetic modification. In this review, we summarize the mechanisms by which ncRNAs regulate the initiation and development of CRC chemoresistance to oxaliplatin. Furthermore, we investigate the clinical application of ncRNAs as promising biomarkers for liquid CRC biopsy. This review provides new insights into overcoming oxaliplatin resistance in CRC by targeting ncRNAs.

Electrically Tunable Second Harmonic Generation in Atomically Thin ReS2.

Electrical tuning of second-order nonlinearity in optical materials is attractive to strengthen and expand the functionalities of nonlinear optical technologies, though its implementation remains elusive. Here, we report the electrically tunable second-order nonlinearity in atomically thin ReS2 flakes benefiting from their distorted 1T crystal structure and interlayer charge transfer. Enabled by the efficient electrostatic control of the few-atomic-layer ReS2, we show that second harmonic generation (SHG) can be induced in odd-number-layered ReS2 flakes which are centrosymmetric and thus without intrinsic SHG. Moreover, the SHG can be precisely modulated by the electric field, reversibly switching from almost zero to an amplitude more than 1 order of magnitude stronger than that of the monolayer MoS2. For the even-number-layered ReS2 flakes with the intrinsic SHG, the external electric field could be leveraged to enhance the SHG. We further perform the first-principles calculations which suggest that the modification of in-plane second-order hyperpolarizability by the redistributed interlayer-transferring charges in the distorted 1T crystal structure underlies the electrically tunable SHG in ReS2. With its active SHG tunability while using the facile electrostatic control, our work may further expand the nonlinear optoelectronic functions of two-dimensional materials for developing electrically controllable nonlinear optoelectronic devices.

Dual-Ferroelectric-Coupling-Engineered Two-Dimensional Transistors for Multifunctional In-Memory Computing.

In-memory computing featuring a radical departure from the von Neumann architecture is promising to substantially reduce the energy and time consumption for data-intensive computation. With the increasing challenges facing silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, developing in-memory computing hardware would require a different platform to deliver significantly enhanced functionalities at the material and device level. Here, we explore a dual-gate two-dimensional ferroelectric field-effect transistor (2D FeFET) as a basic device to form both nonvolatile logic gates and artificial synapses, addressing in-memory computing simultaneously in digital and analog spaces. Through diversifying the electrostatic behaviors in 2D transistors with the dual-ferroelectric-coupling effect, rich logic functionalities including linear (AND, OR) and nonlinear (XNOR) gates were obtained in unipolar (MoS2) and ambipolar (MoTe2) FeFETs. Combining both types of 2D FeFETs in a heterogeneous platform, an important computation circuit, i.e., a half-adder, was successfully constructed with an area-efficient two-transistor structure. Furthermore, with the same device structure, several key synaptic functions are shown at the device level, and an artificial neural network is simulated at the system level, manifesting its potential for neuromorphic computing. These findings highlight the prospects of dual-gate 2D FeFETs for the development of multifunctional in-memory computing hardware capable of both digital and analog computation.

Evolution of the Interfacial Layer and Its Impact on Electric-Field-Cycling Behaviors in Ferroelectric Hf1-xZrxO2.

Doped HfO2 thin films, which exhibit robust ferroelectricity even with aggressive thickness scaling, could potentially enable ultralow-power logic and memory devices. The ferroelectric properties of such materials are strongly intertwined with the voltage-cycling-induced electrical and structural changes, leading to wake-up and fatigue effects. Such field-cycling-dependent behaviors are crucial to evaluate the reliability of HfO2-based functional devices; however, its genuine nature remains elusive. Herein, we demonstrate the coupling mechanism between the dynamic change of the interfacial layer and wake-up/fatigue phenomena in ferroelectric Hf1-xZrxO2 (HZO) thin films. Comprehensive atomic-resolution microscopy studies have revealed that the interfacial layer between the HZO and neighboring nonoxide electrode experienced a thickness/composition evolution during electrical cycling. Two theoretical models associated with the depolarization field are adopted, giving consistent results with the thickening of the interfacial layer during electrical cycling. Furthermore, we found that the electrical properties of the HZO devices can be manipulated by controlling the interface properties, e.g., through the choice of electrode match and hybrid cycling process. Our results unambiguously reveal the relationship between the interfacial layer and field-cycling behaviors in HZO, which would further permit the reliability improvement in HZO-based ferroelectric devices through interface engineering.

Strain-Engineered Nano-Ferroelectrics for High-Efficiency Piezocatalytic Overall Water Splitting.

Developing nano-ferroelectric materials with excellent piezoelectric performance for piezocatalysts used in water splitting is highly desired but also challenging, especially with respect to reaching large piezo-potentials that fully align with required redox levels. Herein, heteroepitaxial strain in BaTiO3 nanoparticles with a designed porous structure is successfully induced by engineering their surface reconstruction to dramatically enhance their piezoelectricity. The strain coherence can be maintained throughout the nanoparticle bulk, resulting in a significant increase of the BaTiO3 tetragonality and thus its piezoelectricity. Benefiting from high piezoelectricity, the as-synthesized blue-colored BaTiO3 nanoparticles possess a superb overall water-splitting activity, with H2 production rates of 159 µmol g-1 h-1 , which is almost 130 times higher than that of the pristine BaTiO3 nanoparticles. Thus, this work provides a generic approach for designing highly efficient piezoelectric nanomaterials by strain engineering that can be further extended to various other perovskite oxides, including SrTiO3 , thereby enhancing their potential for piezoelectric catalysis.

Emerging Opportunities for 2D Semiconductor/Ferroelectric Transistor-Structure Devices.

Semiconductor technology, which is rapidly evolving, is poised to enter a new era for which revolutionary innovations are needed to address fundamental limitations on material and working principle level. 2D semiconductors inherently holding novel properties at the atomic limit show great promise to tackle challenges imposed by traditional bulk semiconductor materials. Synergistic combination of 2D semiconductors with functional ferroelectrics further offers new working principles, and is expected to deliver massively enhanced device performance for existing complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technologies and add unprecedented applications for next-generation electronics. Herein, recent demonstrations of novel device concepts based on 2D semiconductor/ferroelectric heterostructures are critically reviewed covering their working mechanisms, device construction, applications, and challenges. In particular, emerging opportunities of CMOS-process-compatible 2D semiconductor/ferroelectric transistor structure devices for the development of a rich variety of applications are discussed, including beyond-Boltzmann transistors, nonvolatile memories, neuromorphic devices, and reconfigurable nanodevices such as p-n homojunctions and self-powered photodetectors. It is concluded that 2D semiconductor/ferroelectric heterostructures, as an emergent heterogeneous platform, could drive many more exciting innovations for modern electronics, beyond the capability of ubiquitous silicon systems.

Anisotropic Ion Migration and Electronic Conduction in van der Waals Ferroelectric CuInP2S6.

Van der Waals (vdW) thio- and seleno-phosphates have recently gained considerable attention for the use as "active" dielectrics in two-dimensional/quasi-two-dimensional electronic devices. Bulk ionic conductivity in these materials has been identified as a key factor for the control of their electronic properties. However, direct evidence of specific ion species' migration at the nanoscale, particularly under electric fields, and its impact on material properties has been elusive. Here, we report on direct evidence of a phase-selective anisotropic Cu-ion-hopping mechanism in copper indium thiophosphate (CuInP2S6) through detailed scanning probe microscopy measurements. A two-step Cu-hopping path including a first intralayer hopping (in-plane) and second interlayer hopping (out-of-plane) crossing the vdW gap is unveiled. Evidence of electrically controlled Cu ion migration is further verified by nanoscale energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) mapping. These findings offer new insight into anisotropic ionic manipulation in layered vdW ferroelectric/dielectric materials for emergent vdW electronic device design.

Piezoelectric and pyroelectric effects induced by interface polar symmetry.

Interfaces in heterostructures have been a key point of interest in condensed-matter physics for decades owing to a plethora of distinctive phenomena-such as rectification1, the photovoltaic effect2, the quantum Hall effect3 and high-temperature superconductivity4-and their critical roles in present-day technical devices. However, the symmetry modulation at interfaces and the resultant effects have been largely overlooked. Here we show that a built-in electric field that originates from band bending at heterostructure interfaces induces polar symmetry therein that results in emergent functionalities, including piezoelectricity and pyroelectricity, even though the component materials are centrosymmetric. We study classic interfaces-namely, Schottky junctions-formed by noble metal and centrosymmetric semiconductors, including niobium-doped strontium titanium oxide crystals, niobium-doped titanium dioxide crystals, niobium-doped barium strontium titanium oxide ceramics, and silicon. The built-in electric field in the depletion region induces polar structures in the semiconductors and generates substantial piezoelectric and pyroelectric effects. In particular, the pyroelectric coefficient and figure of merit of the interface are over one order of magnitude larger than those of conventional bulk polar materials. Our study enriches the functionalities of heterostructure interfaces, offering a distinctive approach to realizing energy transduction beyond the conventional limitation imposed by intrinsic symmetry.

Artificial Optoelectronic Synapses Based on Ferroelectric Field-Effect Enabled 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Memristive Transistors.

Neuromorphic visual sensory and memory systems, which can perceive, process, and memorize optical information, represent core technology for artificial intelligence and robotics with autonomous navigation. An optoelectronic synapse with an elegant integration of biometric optical sensing and synaptic learning functions can be a fundamental element for the hardware-implementation of such systems. Here, we report a class of ferroelectric field-effect memristive transistors made of a two-dimensional WS2 semiconductor atop a ferroelectric PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 (PZT) thin film for optoelectronic synaptic devices. The WS2 channel exhibits voltage- and light-controllable memristive switching, dependent on the optically and electrically tunable ferroelectric domain patterns in the underlying PZT layer. These devices consequently show the emulation of optically driven synaptic functionalities including both short- and long-term plasticity as well as the implementation of brainlike learning rules. Integration of these rich synaptic functionalities into one single artificial optoelectronic device could allow the development of future neuromorphic electronics capable of optical information sensing and learning.

Flexible Memristors Based on Single-Crystalline Ferroelectric Tunnel Junctions.

Ferroelectric tunnel junction (FTJ) based memristors exhibiting continuous electric field controllable resistance states have been considered promising candidates for future high-density memories and advanced neuromorphic computational architectures. However, the use of rigid single crystal substrate and high temperature growth of the epitaxial FTJ thin films constitutes the main obstacles to using this kind of heterostructure in flexible computing devices. Here, we report the integration of centimeter-scale single crystalline FTJs on flexible plastic substrates, by water-etching based epitaxial oxide membrane lift-off and the following transfer. The resulting highly flexible FTJ membranes retain the single-crystalline structure along with stable and switchable ferroelectric polarization as the grown-on single crystal substrate state. We show that the obtained flexible memristors, i.e., FTJs on plastic substrates, present high speed and low voltage mediated memristive behaviors with resistance changes over 500% and are stable against shape change. This work is an essential step toward the realization of epitaxial ultrathin ferroelectric oxide film-based electronics on large-area, flexible, and affordable substrates.

Light-Controlled Nanoscopic Writing of Electronic Memories Using the Tip-Enhanced Bulk Photovoltaic Effect.

The light control of nonvolatile nanoscale memories could represent a fundamental step toward novel optoelectronic devices with memory and logic functionalities. However, most of the proposed devices exhibit insufficient control in terms of the reversibility, data retention, photosensitivity, limited-photoactive area, and so forth. Here, in a proof-of-concept work, we demonstrate the use of the tip-enhanced bulk photovoltaic (BPV) effect to realize programmable nanoscopic writing of nonphotoactive electronic devices by light control. We show that electronic properties of solid-state memory devices can be reversibly and location-precisely manipulated in the nanoscale using the BPV effect in combination with the nanoscale contact connection, that is, atomic force microscopy (AFM) probe technique in this work. More than 105% reversible switching of tunneling electroresistance of ferroelectric tunnel junctions is exclusively achieved by light control. Using the same light-controlled AFM probe technique, we also present precise nanoscopic and multiple-state writing of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG)-based field-effect transistors. The tip-enhanced BPV effect can offer a novel avenue for reversible and multistate light control of a wide range of electronic memory devices in the nanoscale and may lead to more sophisticated functionalities in optoelectronic applications.

Enhancement of Local Photovoltaic Current at Ferroelectric Domain Walls in BiFeO3.

Domain walls, which are intrinsically two dimensional nano-objects exhibiting nontrivial electronic and magnetic behaviours, have been proven to play a crucial role in photovoltaic properties of ferroelectrics. Despite this recognition, the electronic properties of domain walls under illumination until now have been accessible only to macroscopic studies and their effects upon the conduction of photovoltaic current still remain elusive. The lack of understanding hinders the developing of nanoscale devices based on ferroelectric domain walls. Here, we directly characterize the local photovoltaic and photoconductive properties of 71° domain walls on BiFeO3 thin films with a nanoscale resolution. Local photovoltaic current, proven to be driven by the bulk photovoltaic effect, has been probed over the whole illuminated surface by using a specially designed photoelectric atomic force microscopy and found to be significantly enhanced at domain walls. Additionally, spatially resolved photoconductive current distribution reveals a higher density of excited carriers at domain walls in comparison with domains. Our measurements demonstrate that domain wall enhanced photovoltaic current originates from its high conduction rather than the internal electric field. This photoconduction facilitated local photovoltaic current is likely to be a universal property of topological defects in ferroelectric semiconductors.

Insight into Metalized Interfaces in Nano Devices by Surface Analytical Techniques.

Connections between metals and heterogeneous solid state materials form buried interfaces. These ubiquitous structures play an essential role in determining the performances of many nano- and microdevices. However, the information about the chemistry, structure, and properties of these real interfaces is intrinsically difficult to extract by traditional techniques. Therefore, approaches to efficiently discovering metalized interfaces are in high demand. Here, we demonstrate the transformation of nanoscale metal/oxide interface problems into surface problems through a novel metal-hydrogenation detaching method. We applied this technique to study the thickness dependence in Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT) ferroelectric thin films, a long-standing interface problem in a model metal/insulator device, and this allowed comprehensive surface analytical techniques to be adapted. A nonstoichiometric interfacial layer of 4.1 nm thick with low mass density, low permittivity, and weak ferroelectricity was quantified at the Pt/PZT interface and attributed to the preferential diffusions among the compositional elements. Targeted interface engineering by Pb rebalance led to a substantial recovery of ferroelectric properties. Our results therefore pave the way to a better understanding of metallized interface in ferroelectric and dielectric nanodevices. We hope that more useful information about metalized interfaces of other solid materials could, analogously, be accessed by surface analytical techniques.