Hierarchical processing enabled by 2D ferroelectric semiconductor transistor for low-power and high-efficiency AI vision system.

The growth of data and Internet of Things challenges traditional hardware, which encounters efficiency and power issues owing to separate functional units for sensors, memory, and computation. In this study, we designed an α-phase indium selenide (α-In2Se3) transistor, which is a two-dimensional ferroelectric semiconductor as the channel material, to create artificial optic-neural and electro-neural synapses, enabling cutting-edge processing-in-sensor (PIS) and computing-in-memory (CIM) functionalities. As an optic-neural synapse for low-level sensory processing, the α-In2Se3 transistor exhibits a high photoresponsivity (2855 A/W) and detectivity (2.91 × 1014 Jones), facilitating efficient feature extraction. For high-level processing tasks as an electro-neural synapse, it offers a fast program/erase speed of 40 ns/50 µs and ultralow energy consumption of 0.37 aJ/spike. An AI vision system using α-In2Se3 transistors has been demonstrated. It achieved an impressive recognition accuracy of 92.63% within 12 epochs owing to the synergistic combination of the PIS and CIM functionalities. This study demonstrates the potential of the α-In2Se3 transistor in future vision hardware, enhancing processing, power efficiency, and AI applications.

Vapor growth of V-doped MoS2 monolayers with enhanced B-exciton emission and broad spectral response.

Dynamically engineering the optical and electrical properties in two-dimensional (2D) materials is of great significance for designing the related functions and applications. The introduction of foreign-atoms has previously been proven to be a feasible way to tune the band structure and related properties of 3D materials; however, this approach still remains to be explored in 2D materials. Here, we systematically demonstrate the growth of vanadium-doped molybdenum disulfide (V-doped MoS2) monolayers via an alkali metal-assisted chemical vapor deposition method. Scanning transmission electron microscopy demonstrated that V atoms substituted the Mo atoms and became uniformly distributed in the MoS2 monolayers. This was also confirmed by Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Power-dependent photoluminescence spectra clearly revealed the enhanced B-exciton emission characteristics in the V-doped MoS2 monolayers (with low doping concentration). Most importantly, through temperature-dependent study, we observed efficient valley scattering of the B-exciton, greatly enhancing its emission intensity. Carrier transport experiments indicated that typical p-type conduction gradually arisen and was enhanced with increasing V composition in the V-doped MoS2, where a clear n-type behavior transited first to ambipolar and then to lightly p-type charge carrier transport. In addition, visible to infrared wide-band photodetectors based on V-doped MoS2 monolayers (with low doping concentration) were demonstrated. The V-doped MoS2 monolayers with distinct B-exciton emission, enhanced p-type conduction and broad spectral response can provide new platforms for probing new physics and offer novel materials for optoelectronic applications.

hsa_circ_0005721 triggers proliferation, migration and invasion of osteosarcoma by upregulating the linear transcript TEP1.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to illustrate the biological role of hsa_circ_0005721 in the development of osteosarcoma and the molecular mechanism. METHODS: hsa_circ_0005721 levels in 30 pairs of osteosarcoma and non-tumor tissues were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Functional experiments were conducted to assess the influence of hsa_circ_0005721 on proliferative, metastatic and apoptotic rates of osteosarcoma cells. The downstream target of hsa_circ_0005721 and their co-regulatory mechanism in malignant development of osteosarcoma were analyzed by dual-luciferase reporter assay and rescue experiments, respectively. RESULTS: hsa_circ_0005721 was upregulated in osteosarcoma tissues and cell lines. Knockdown of hsa_circ_0005721 suppressed proliferative and metastatic rates of U-2OS and Saos-2 cells, and stimulated apoptosis. Serving as a ceRNA, hsa_circ_0005721 upregulated the linear transcript TEP1 by competitively binding miR-16-5p, thus exerting its biological functions in regulating osteosarcoma development. CONCLUSIONS: This study for the first time identified the upregulated hsa_circ_0005721 in osteosarcoma, which triggers the malignant development of osteosarcoma by upregulating the linear transcript TEP1.

Double-Gate MoS2 Field-Effect Transistors with Full-Range Tunable Threshold Voltage for Multifunctional Logic Circuits.

Multifunctional reconfigurable devices, with higher information capacity, smaller size, and more functions, are urgently needed and draw most attention in frontiers in information technology. 2D semiconductors, ascribing to ultrathin body and easy electrostatic control, show great potential in developing reconfigurable functional units. This work proposes a novel double-gate field-effect transistor architecture with equal top and bottom gate (TG and BG) and realizes flexible optimization of the subthreshold swing (SS) and threshold voltage (VTH ). While the TG and BG are used simultaneously, as a single gate to drive the transistor, ultralow average SS value of 65.5 mV dec-1 can be obtained in a large current range over 104 , enabling the application in high gain inverter. While one gate is used to initialize the channel doping, full logic swing inverter circuit with high noise margin (over 90%) is demonstrated. Such device prototype is further extended for designing reconfigurable logic applications and can be dynamically switched and well maintained between binary and ternary logics. This study provides important concept and device prototype for future multifunctional logic applications.

Liquid-Metal-Assisted Growth of Vertical GaSe/MoS2 p-n Heterojunctions for Sensitive Self-Driven Photodetectors.

van der Waals (vdW) vertical p-n junctions based on two-dimensional (2D) materials have shown great potential in flexible, self-driven, high-efficiency electronic and optoelectronic applications. However, due to the complex nucleation dynamics, the controllable synthesis of vertical heterostructures remains a daunting challenge. Here, we report the controlled growth of vertical GaSe/MoS2 p-n heterojunctions via a liquid gallium (Ga)-assisted chemical vapor deposition method. The growth mechanism can be interpreted by theoretical calculations based on the Burton-Cabrera-Frank theory. By analyzing the diffusion barriers and the Ehrlich-Schwoebel barriers of adatoms, we found that the growth modes between vertical and lateral can be precisely switched by means of adjusting the amount of Ga. Based on the achieved high-quality vertical GaSe/MoS2 p-n heterojunctions, photosensing devices are further designed and systematically investigated. Upon light illumination, prominent photovoltaic effects with large open-circuit voltage (0.61 V) and broadband detection capability from 375 to 633 nm are observed, which can further be employed for self-powered photodetection with high responsivity (900 mA/W) and fast response speed (5 ms). The developed liquid-metal-assisted strategy provides an effective method for controllable synthesis of vdW heterostructures and will give impetus to their applications in high-performance optoelectronic device.

Epitaxial synthesis of ultrathin ß-In2Se3/MoS2 heterostructures with high visible/near-infrared photoresponse.

van der Waals (vdWs) heterostructures, combining different two-dimensional (2D) layered materials with diverse properties, have been demonstrated to be a very promising platform to explore a new physical phenomenon and realize various potential applications in atomically thin electronic and optoelectronic devices. Here, we report the controlled growth of vertically stacked ß-In2Se3/MoS2 vdWs heterostructures (despite the existence of large lattice mismatching ∼29%) through a typical two-step chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The crystal structure of the achieved heterostructures is characterized by transmission electron microscopy, where evident Moiré patterns are observed, indicating well-aligned lattice orientation. Strong photoluminescence quenching is obeserved in the heterostructure, revealing effective interlayer charge transfer at the interface. Electrical devices are further constructed based on the achieved heterostructures, which have a high on/off ratio and a typical rectifying behavior. Upon laser irradiation, the devices show excellent photosensing properties. A high responsivity of 4.47 A W-1 and a detectivity of 1.07 × 109 Jones are obtained under 450 nm laser illumination with a bias voltage of 1 V, which are much better than those of heterostructures grown via CVD. Most significantly, the detection range can be extended to near-infrared due to the relatively small bandgap nature of ß-In2Se3. With 830 nm laser illumination, the devices also show distinct photoresponses with fast response speed even when operating at room temperature. The high-quality ß-In2Se3/MoS2 heterostructures broaden the family of the 2D layered heterostructure system and should have significant potential applications in high-performance broadband photodetectors.

Contact and injection engineering for low SS reconfigurable FETs and high gain complementary inverters.

The newly emerged two-dimensional (2D) semiconducting materials, owning to the atomic thick nature and excellent optical and electrical properties, are considered as potential candidates to solve the bottlenecks of traditional semiconductors. However, the realization of high performance 2D semiconductor-based field-effect transistors (FETs) has been a longstanding challenge in 2D electronics, which is mainly ascribing to the presence of significant Schottky barrier (SB) at metal-semiconductor interfaces. Here, an additional contact gate is induced in 2D ambipolar FET to realize near ideal reconfigurable FET (RFET) devices without restrictions of SB. Benefitting from the consistently high doping of contact region, the effective SB height can be maintained at ultra-small value during all operation conditions, resulting in the near ideal subthreshold swing (SS) values (132 mV/decade for MoTe2 RFET and 67 mV/decade for WSe2 RFET) and the relatively high mobility (28.6 cm2/(V s) for MoTe2 RFET and 89.8 cm2/(V s) for WSe2 RFET). Moreover, the flexible control on the doping polarity of contact region enables the remodeling and switching of the achieved unipolar FETs between p-type mode and n-type mode. Based on such reconfigurable behaviors, high gain complementary MoTe2 inverters are further realized. The findings in this work push forward the development of high-performance 2D semiconductor integrated devices and circuits.

Light-triggered two-dimensional lateral homogeneous p-n diodes for opto-electrical interconnection circuits.

The realization of light-triggered devices where light is used as external stimulus to control the device performances is a long-standing goal in modern opto-electrical interconnection circuits. In this work, it reveals that light illumination can induce the formation of p-n junctions along two-dimensional conduction channels. The results indicate that the dominant charge carrier type and density in black phosphorus (BP) conduction channel can be effectively modulated by the underlying cadmium sulfide (CdS) photo-gate layer under light illumination. This enables flexible switching of the working state between BP resistor and BP p-n diode in the designed semi-photo-gate transistor (SPGT) devices when switching the light on and off (ultra-low threshold light power). Simultaneously, the achieved BP p-n junctions also exhibit ultra-high photoresponsivity and evident photovoltaic properties. That is to say, light can be employed as external stimulus to define the BP p-n junctions, and in turn the p-n junctions will further convert the light into electrical power, showing all-in-one opto-electrical interconnection properties. Moreover, the SPGT device architecture is also applicable for construction of other ambipolar semiconductor-based (WSe2- and MoTe2-based) p-n diodes. Such universal all-in-one light-triggered lateral homogeneous p-n junctions with ultra-low energy consumption should open a new pathway toward novel optoelectronic devices and deliver various new applications.

Self-Powered Broad-band Photodetectors Based on Vertically Stacked WSe2/Bi2Te3 p-n Heterojunctions.

Semiconducting p-n heterojunctions, serving as the basic unit of modern electronic devices, such as photodetectors, solar-energy conversion devices, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs), have been extensively investigated in recent years. In this work, high performance self-powered broad-band photodetectors were fabricated based on vertically stacked p-n heterojunctions though combining p-type WSe2 with n-type Bi2Te3 via van der Waals (vdW) epitaxial growth. Devices based on the p-n heterojunction show obvious current rectification behaviors in the dark and superior photovoltaic characteristics under light irradiation. A maximum short circuit current of 18 nA and open circuit voltage of 0.25 V can be achieved with the illumination light of 633 nm (power density: 26.4 mW/cm2), which are among the highest values compared with the ever reported 2D vdW heterojunctions synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. Benefiting from the broad-band absorption of the heterostructures, the detection range can be expanded from the visible to near-infrared (375-1550 nm). Moreover, ascribing to the efficient carriers separation process at the junction interfaces, the devices can be further employed as self-powered photodetectors, where a fast response time (∼210 µs) and high responsivity (20.5 A/W at 633 nm and 27 mA/W at 1550 nm) are obtained under zero bias voltage. The WSe2/Bi2Te3 p-n heterojunction-based self-powered photodetectors with high photoresponsivity, fast photoresponse time, and broad spectral response will find potential applications in high speed and self-sufficient broad-band devices.

Trion-Induced Distinct Transient Behavior and Stokes Shift in WS2 Monolayers.

Understanding the excitonic behavior in two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides (2D TMDs) is of both fundamental interest and critical importance for optoelectronic applications. Here, we investigate the transient excitonic behavior and Stokes shift in WS2 monolayers on both sapphire and glass substrates. Trion formation was confirmed as the origin of the distinct photoluminescence (PL) emission and Stokes shift in WS2 monolayers. Moreover, the transient studies demonstrate faster recombination of both the exciton and the short-lived trion on the glass substrate as compared to that on the sapphire substrate, owing to the heavier n-doping and greater number of defects introduced by the glass substrate. In addition, a long-lived trion species attributed to the intervalley triplet trion was observed on the glass substrate, with a lifetime on the nanosecond time scale. These findings offer a comprehensive understanding of the excitonic behavior and Stokes shift in WS2 monolayers and will lay the foundation for further fundamental investigations in the field.

Nonvolatile MoTe2 p-n Diodes for Optoelectronic Logics.

Construction of atomically thin p-n junctions helps to build highly compact electronic and photonic devices for on-chip optoelectronic applications. In this work, lateral nonvolatile MoTe2 p-n diodes are constructed on the basis of the MoTe2/h-BN/graphene semifloating gate field-effect transistor (SFG-FET) configuration. The achieved diodes exhibit excellent rectifying behaviors (rectification ratio up to 8 × 103) and typical photovoltaic properties (with power conversion efficiency of 0.5%). Through manipulating the polarity of the stored charges in the semifloating gate, such rectifying behaviors and photovoltaic properties can be erased, resulting in a high conduction state ( n + -n junction). Such erasable and programmable behaviors further enable us to develop logic optoelectronic devices, realizing the switching of the device between different power conversion states and functional AND and OR optical logic gates. We believe that the achieved MoTe2-based SFG-FET devices with interesting logic optoelectronic functions will enrich the modern photoelectrical interconnected circuits.

Direct Vapor Growth of 2D Vertical Heterostructures with Tunable Band Alignments and Interfacial Charge Transfer Behaviors.

2D vertical van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures with atomically sharp interfaces have attracted tremendous interest in 2D photonic and optoelectronic applications. Band alignment engineering in 2D heterostructures provides a perfect platform for tailoring interfacial charge transfer behaviors, from which desired optical and optoelectronic features can be realized. Here, by developing a two-step chemical vapor deposition strategy, direct vapor growth of monolayer PbI2 on monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) (WS2, WSe2, or alloying WS2(1- x )Se2 x ), forming bilayer vertical heterostructures, is demonstrated. Based on the calculated electron band structures, the interfacial band alignments of the obtained heterostructures can be gradually tuned from type-I (PbI2/WS2) to type-II (PbI2/WSe2). Steady-state photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved PL measurements reveal that the PL emissions from the bottom TMDC layers can be modulated from apparently enhanced (for WS2) to greatly quenched (for WSe2) compared to their monolayer counterparts, which can be attributed to the band alignment-induced distinct interfacial charge transfer behaviors. The band alignment nature of the heterostructures is further demonstrated by the PL excitation spectroscopy and interlayer exciton investigation. The realization of 2D vertical heterostructures with tunable band alignments will provide a new material platform for designing and constructing multifunctional optoelectronic devices.

Band Alignment Engineering in Two-Dimensional Lateral Heterostructures.

Two-dimensional (2D) heterostructures have aroused widespread attentions due to the fascinating properties originating from the interfaces and the derived potential applications in modern electronics and optoelectronics. The interfacial band alignment engineering of 2D heterostructures would open up promising routes toward the flexible design and optimization of the electronic and optoelectronic properties. Herein, we report a one-step chemical vapor deposition method for the growth of band alignment continuously modulated WS2-WS2(1- x)Se2 x (0 < x ≤ 1) monolayer lateral heterostructures, with atomically sharp interfaces at the junction area. Local photoluminescence (PL) and Raman measurements demonstrate the position-dependent composition and band gap information on the as-grown nanosheets. Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) investigations further confirm the tunable band alignments in the heterostructures, where a continuously decreased Fermi level difference between the core and the shell regions is observed with the x value varied from 1 to 0. The direct growth of high-quality atomic-level junctions with controllable band alignment marks an important step toward the potential applications of 2D semiconductors in integrated electronic and optoelectronic devices.