Nonvolatile Control of the Electronic Properties of In2-xCrxO3 Semiconductor Films by Ferroelectric Polarization Charge.

A series of Cr-doped In2-xCrxO3 (ICO) semiconductor thin films were epitaxially grown on (111)-oriented 0.71Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.29PbTiO3 (PMN-0.29PT) single-crystal substrates by the pulsed laser deposition. Upon the application of an electric field to the PMN-0.29PT substrate along the thickness direction, we realized in situ, reversible, and nonvolatile control of the electronic properties and Fermi level of the films, which are manifested by abundant physical phenomena such as the n-type to p-type transformation, metal-semiconductor transition, metal-insulator transition, crossover of the magnetoresistance (MR) from negative to positive, and a large nonvolatile on-and-off ratio of 5.5 × 104% at room temperature. We also strictly disclose that both the sign and the magnitude of MR are determined by the electron carrier density of ICO films, which could modify the s-d exchange interaction and weak localization effect. Our results demonstrate that the ferroelectric gating approach using PMN-PT can be utilized to gain deeper insight into the carrier-density-related electronic properties of In2O3-based semiconductors and provide a simple and energy efficient way to construct multifunctional devices which can utilize the unique properties of composite materials.

Nonvolatile and Reversible Ferroelectric Control of Electronic Properties of Bi2Te3 Topological Insulator Thin Films Grown on Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 Single Crystals.

Single-phase (00 l)-oriented Bi2Te3 topological insulator thin films have been deposited on (111)-oriented ferroelectric 0.71Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.29PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) single-crystal substrates. Taking advantage of the nonvolatile polarization charges induced by the polarization direction switching of PMN-PT substrates at room temperature, the carrier density, Fermi level, magnetoconductance, conductance channel, phase coherence length, and quantum corrections to the conductance can be in situ modulated in a reversible and nonvolatile manner. Specifically, upon the polarization switching from the positively poled Pr+ state (i.e., polarization direction points to the film) to the negatively poled Pr- (i.e., polarization direction points to the bottom electrode) state, both the electron carrier density and the Fermi wave vector decrease significantly, reflecting a shift of the Fermi level toward the Dirac point. The polarization switching from Pr+ to Pr- also results in significant increase of the conductance channel α from -0.15 to -0.3 and a decrease of the phase coherence length from 200 to 80 nm at T = 2 K as well as a reduction of the electron-electron interaction. All these results demonstrate that electric-voltage control of physical properties using PMN-PT as both substrates and gating materials provides a simple and a straightforward approach to realize reversible and nonvolatile tuning of electronic properties of topological thin films and may be further extended to study carrier density-related quantum transport properties of other quantum matter.

Integration of Oxide Semiconductor Thin Films with Relaxor-Based Ferroelectric Single Crystals with Large Reversible and Nonvolatile Modulation of Electronic Properties.

We report the fabrication of 0.71Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.29PbTiO3 (PMN-0.29PT)-based ferroelectric field effect transistors (FeFETs) by the epitaxial growth of cobalt-doped tin dioxide (SnO2) semiconductor thin films on PMN-0.29PT single crystals. Using such FeFETs we realized in situ, reversible, and nonvolatile manipulation of the electron carrier density and achieved a large nonvolatile modulation of the resistance (∼330%) of the SnO2:Co films through the polarization switching of PMN-0.29PT at 300 K. Particularly, combining the ferroelectric gating with piezoresponse force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Hall effect, and magnetoresistance (MR), we rigorously disclose that both sign and magnitude of the MR are intrinsically determined by the electron carrier density, which could modify the s-d exchange interaction of the SnO2:Co films. Furthermore, we realized multilevel resistance states of the SnO2:Co films by combining the ferroelectric gating with ultraviolet light illumination, demonstrating that the FeFETs have potential applications in multistate resistive memories and electro-optical devices.

A Novel Magnetoelectric Biomagnetic Susceptometer on Iron Level Detection with Mice Tissue in Vitro.

Iron plays a vital role in human body. Liver Iron Concentration (LIC) is directly correlated to total body iron and can be an important indicator to a variety of pathologies. Non-invasive methods to quantitatively assess tissue iron with low cost and high sensitivity have drawn vast interests and investments. Among various methods, the magnetoelectric (ME) sensor based biomagnetic liver susceptometer (BLS) is of great promise because it operates at room temperature but with the same principle as that of the well-developed SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device). Here, we report a magnetoelectric (ME) sensor based BLS system exploiting the recently developed PIN-PMN-PT piezoelectric single crystal. The newly developed ME BLS, which employs the horizontal scanning mechanism with a water bath interface to automatically eliminate the diamagnetic background of the tissues and irregular shape of torso, exhibits an overall sensitivity advancement (300X) to the sensor system previously reported. A linear correlation (R2 = 0.97) found between the system measurements and the biopsy data demonstrates the validity of the system. The ability to detect signals from only 3cc of mouse liver tissue samples suggests a high spatial resolution which could be used for finer scanning and enable magnetic distribution image and profiling.

Semiconductor/Piezoelectrics Hybrid Heterostructures with Highly Effective Gate-Tunable Electrotransport and Magnetic Behaviors.

We report the epitaxial growth of oxygen deficient titanium dioxide thin films on 0.7Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.3PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) single crystals and realized highly effective in situ electrostatic manipulation of electrotransport and magnetism of TiO2-δ films via gate voltages. Upon the polarization switching in the PMN-PT, the carrier density of the TiO2-δ film could be reversibly modified, resulting in a large nonvolatile resistivity modulation by ∼51% at T = 300 K, approximately 4-12 times larger than that of other transition-metal oxide film/PMN-PT structures. By taking advantage of in situ manipulation of the carrier density via gate voltages, we found that competition between the trap of electrons by the Ti3+-VO pairs and that by the positive polarization charges at the interface results in a significant resistivity relaxation upon the polarization switching, and revealed that magnetization is inversely correlated with the carrier density of the TiO2-δ film. Such hybrid structures combining materials with dissimilar functionalities may have potential applications in multifunctional devices which can take advantage of the useful and unique properties of both materials.

Fabrication and performance of endoscopic ultrasound radial arrays based on PMN-PT single crystal/epoxy 1-3 composite.

In this paper, 0.7Pb(Mg(¹/3)Nb(²/3)O3-0.3PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) single crystal/epoxy 1/3 composite was used as the active material of the endoscopic ultrasonic radial array transducer, because this composite exhibited ultrahigh electromechanical coupling coefficient (k(t) = 0.81%), very low mechanical quality factor (Q(m) = 11) and relatively low acoustic impedance (Z(t) = 12 MRayls). A 6.91 MHz PMN-PT/epoxy 1/3 composite radial array transducer with 64 elements was tested in a pulseecho response measurement. The -6-dB bandwidth of the composite array transducer was 102%, which was ~30% larger than that of traditional lead zirconate titanate array transducer. The two-way insertion loss was found to be -32.3 dB. The obtained results show that this broadband array transducer is promising for acquiring high-resolution endoscopic ultrasonic images in many clinical applications.

High-frequency ultrasonic transducer fabricated with lead-free piezoelectric single crystal.

High-frequency (25 MHz) ultrasonic transducers with Na(0.5)Bi(0.5)TiO(3)-BaTiO(3) (NBT-BT) lead-free piezoelectric single crystal as the active elements are fabricated and characterized. The impedance measurement reveals that the poled [001]-oriented NBT-BT single crystal exhibits a high thickness electromechanical coefficient k(t) of 0.52 and a low clamped dielectric constant of 80. The -6-dB bandwidth of the transducer is 46.16% and the insertion loss at the center frequency is -31.89 dB. The good performance of the transducer indicates that the NBT-BT single crystal would be a promising lead-free material for ultrasonic transducer applications.