Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy with Bacterial Biofilms: Neuronal-like Behavior.

Negative capacitance at low frequencies for spiking neurons was first demonstrated in 1941 (K. S. Cole) by using extracellular electrodes. The phenomenon subsequently was explained by using the Hodgkin-Huxley model and is due to the activity of voltage-gated potassium ion channels. We show that Escherichia coli (E. coli) biofilms exhibit significant stable negative capacitances at low frequencies when they experience a small DC bias voltage in electrical impedance spectroscopy experiments. Using a frequency domain Hodgkin-Huxley model, we characterize the conditions for the emergence of this feature and demonstrate that the negative capacitance exists only in biofilms containing living cells. Furthermore, we establish the importance of the voltage-gated potassium ion channel, Kch, using knock-down mutants. The experiments provide further evidence for voltage-gated ion channels in E. coli and a new, low-cost method to probe biofilm electrophysiology, e.g., to understand the efficacy of antibiotics. We expect that the majority of bacterial biofilms will demonstrate negative capacitances.

Negative Capacitance Field Effect Transistors based on Van der Waals 2D Materials.

Steep subthreshold swing (SS) is a decisive index for low energy consumption devices. However, the SS of conventional field effect transistors (FETs) has suffered from Boltzmann Tyranny, which limits the scaling of SS to sub-60 mV dec-1 at room temperature. Ferroelectric gate stack with negative capacitance (NC) is proved to reduce the SS effectively by the amplification of the gate voltage. With the application of 2D ferroelectric materials, the NC FETs can be further improved in performance and downscaled to a smaller dimension as well. This review introduces some related concepts for in-depth understanding of NC FETs, including the NC, internal gate voltage, SS, negative drain-induced barrier lowering, negative differential resistance, single-domain state, and multi-domain state. Meanwhile, this work summarizes the recent advances of the 2D NC FETs. Moreover, the electrical characteristics of some high-performance NC FETs are expressed as well. The factors which affect the performance of the 2D NC FETs are also presented in this paper. Finally, this work gives a brief summary and outlook for the 2D NC FETs.

Leveraging negative capacitance ferroelectric materials for performance boosting of sub-10 nm graphene nanoribbon field-effect transistors: a quantum simulation study.

In this paper, an ultrascaled ballistic graphene nanoribbon field-effect transistor (GNRFET) endowed with a compound double-gate based on metal-ferroelectric-metal (MFM) structure is proposed to overcome the limitations encountered with its conventional counterpart. The ballistic transistor is computationally investigated by solving self-consistently the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism and the Poisson solver in conjunction with the Landau-Khalatnikov equation. The numerical investigation has included the ferroelectric-induced amplified internal metal voltage, the role of the ferroelectric thickness in boosting the device performance, the assessment of the switching and subthreshold performance, and the analysis of the FE-GNRFET scaling capability. The simulations revealed that the MFM-based gate can significantly boost the performance of GNRFETs, including the switching behavior, the on-current, the off-current, the current ratio, the swing factor, the intrinsic delay, and the scaling capability. More importantly, the proposed MFM GNRFET was found able to provide sub-thermionic subthreshold swing even with sub-10 nm gate lengths, which is very promising for low-power applications. The obtained results indicate that the MFM-based gating approach can give new impulses to the GNRFET technology.

BOX engineering to mitigate negative differential resistance in MFIS negative capacitance FDSOI FET: an analog perspective.

Till date, the existing understanding of negative differential resistance (NDR) is obtained from metal-ferro-metal-insulator-semiconductor (MFMIS) FET, and it has been utilized for both MFMIS and metal-ferro-insulator-semiconductor (MFIS) based NCFETs. However, in MFIS architecture, the ferroelectric capacitance (CFE) is not a lumped capacitance. Therefore, for MFIS negative capacitance (NC) devices, the physical explanation which governs the NDR mechanism needs to be addressed. In this work, for the first time, we present the first principle explanation of the NDR effect in MFIS NC FDSOI. We found that the output current variation with the drain to source voltage (VDS), (i.e.gds) primarily depends upon two parameters: (a)VDSdependent inversion charge gradient (∂n/∂VDS); (b)VDSsensitive electron velocity (∂v/∂VDS), and the combined effect of these two dependencies results in NDR. Further, to mitigate the NDR effect, we proposed the BOX engineered NC FDSOI FET, in which the buried oxide (BOX) layer is subdivided into the ferroelectric (FE) layer and the SiO2layer. In doing so, the inversion charge in the channel is enhanced by the BOX engineered FE layer, which in turn mitigates the NDR and a nearly zerogdswith a minimal positive slope has been obtained. Through well-calibrated TCAD simulations, by utilizing the obtained positivegds, we also designed aVDSindependent constant current mirror which is an essential part of analog circuits. Furthermore, we discussed the impact of the FE parameter (remanent polarization and coercive field) variation on the device performances. We have also compared the acquired results with existing literature on NC-based devices, which justifies that our proposed structure exhibits complete diminution of NDR, thus enabling its use in analog circuit design.

A T-shaped gate tunneling field effect transistor with negative capacitance, super-steep subthreshold swing.

With the development of semiconductor technology, the size of traditional metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor devices continues to decrease, but it cannot meet the requirements of high performance and low power consumption. Low power tunneling field effect transistor (TFET) has gradually become the focus of researchers. This paper proposes a novel T-shaped gate TFET based on the silicon with the negative capacitance (NC-TGTFET). On the basis of TGTFET, ferroelectric material (HZO) is used as gate dielectric. The simulation results show that, compared with the traditional TGTFET, the opening order and sensitivity of the two tunneling junctions are different. The influences of thickness and the doping concentration of pocket and ferroelectric material properties on the characteristics of NC-TGTFET is also discussed by Sentaurus simulation tool. Furthermore, the negative capacitance of ferroelectric material makes NC-TGTFET have a very steep subthreshold swing (18.32 mV/dec) at the range of drain current from 1 × 10-15to 1 × 10-7Aµm-1. And the on-state current (Vg= 0.5 V,Vd= 0.5 V) is 1.52 × 10-6Aµm-1.

MoS2transistors gated by ferroelectric HfZrO2with MoS2/mica heterojunction interface.

Two-dimensional (2D) molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) field-effect transistor (FET) gated by negative capacitance (NC) is a promising architecture to overcome the thermionic limit and thus reduce device consumption. Here, top-gated MoS2NCFETs have been prepared by transferring a mica flake on MoS2channel to form a van der Waals heterojunction interface, together with a ferroelectric HfZrO2(HZO) deposited on mica. Stable NC effects are demonstrated for MoS2NCFETs. The MoS2NCFETs integrated with mica/HZO gate stack provide competitive electrical characteristics when they are applied with a gate voltage sweep-width in the range of 1-3 V and a sweep-rate from 0.01 to 0.2 V s-1, including steep-slope of sub 60 mV dec-1in four orders of magnitude of drain current, on/off current ratio over 106, and small hysteresis-width less than 50 mV. Outstanding performance should be ascribed to damage-free properties of mica/MoS2van der Waals interface and capacitance matching between the HZO ferroelectric and mica dielectric. The results confirm the promising nature of mica/HZO gate stack and potential applications for future electronics.

Evidence of Negative Capacitance and Capacitance Modulation by Light and Mechanical Stimuli in Pt/ZnO/Pt Schottky Junctions.

We report on the evidence of negative capacitance values in a system consisting of metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) structures, with Schottky junctions made of zinc oxide thin films deposited by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) on top of platinum interdigitated electrodes (IDE). The MSM structures were studied over a wide frequency range, between 20 Hz and 1 MHz. Light and mechanical strain applied to the device modulate positive or negative capacitance and conductance characteristics by tuning the flow of electrons involved in the conduction mechanisms. A complete study was carried out by measuring the capacitance and conductance characteristics under the influence of both dark and light conditions, over an extended range of applied bias voltage and frequency. An impact-loss process linked to the injection of hot electrons at the interface trap states of the metal-semiconductor junction is proposed to be at the origin of the apparition of the negative capacitance values. These negative values are preceded by a local increase of the capacitance associated with the accumulation of trapped electrons at the interface trap states. Thus, we propose a simple device where the capacitance values can be modulated over a wide frequency range via the action of light and strain, while using cleanroom-compatible materials for fabrication. These results open up new perspectives and applications for the miniaturization of highly sensitive and low power consumption environmental sensors, as well as for broadband impedance matching in radio frequency applications.

Nanowire Tunnel FET with Simultaneously Reduced Subthermionic Subthreshold Swing and Off-Current due to Negative Capacitance and Voltage Pinning Effects.

Nanowire tunnel field-effect transistors (TFETs) have been proposed as the most advanced one-dimensional (1D) devices that break the thermionic 60 mV/decade of the subthreshold swing (SS) of metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) by using quantum mechanical band-to-band tunneling and excellent electrostatic control. Meanwhile, negative capacitance (NC) of ferroelectrics has been proposed as a promising performance booster of MOSFETs to bypass the aforementioned fundamental limit by exploiting the differential amplification of the gate voltage under certain conditions. We combine these two principles into a single structure, a negative capacitance heterostructure TFET, and experimentally demonstrate a double beneficial effect: (i) a super-steep SS value down to 10 mV/decade and an extended low slope region that is due to the NC effect and, (ii) a remarkable off-current reduction that is experimentally observed and explained for the first time by the effect of the ferroelectric dipoles, which set the surface potential in a slightly negative value and further blocks the source tunneling current in the off-state. State-of-the-art InAs/InGaAsSb/GaSb nanowire TFETs are employed as the baseline transistor and PZT and silicon-doped HfO2 as ferroelectric materials.

Piezoelectric Shunt Stiffness in Rhombic Piezoelectric Stack Transducer with Hybrid Negative-Impedance Shunts: Theoretical Modeling and Stability Analysis.

Negative-capacitance shunted piezoelectric polymer was investigated in depth due to its considerable damping effect. This paper discusses the novel controlled stiffness performance from a rhombic piezoelectric stack transducer with three hybrid negative-impedance shunts, namely, negative capacitance in series with resistance, negative capacitance in parallel with resistance, and negative inductance/negative capacitance (NINC) in series with resistance. An analytical framework for establishing the model of the coupled system is presented. Piezoelectric shunt stiffness (PSS) and piezoelectric shunt damping (PSD) are proposed to analyze the stiffness and damping performances of the hybrid shunts. Theoretical analysis proves that the PSS can produce both positive and negative stiffness by changing the negative capacitance and adjustable resistance. The Routh-Hurwitz criterion and the root locus method are utilized to judge the stability of the three hybrid shunts. The results point out that the negative capacitance should be selected carefully to sustain the stability and to achieve the negative stiffness effect of the transducer. Furthermore, negative capacitance in parallel with resistance has a considerably better stiffness bandwidth and damping performance than the other two shunts. This study demonstrates a novel electrically controlled stiffness method for vibration control engineering.

Steep-Slope WSe2 Negative Capacitance Field-Effect Transistor.

P-type two-dimensional steep-slope negative capacitance field-effect transistors are demonstrated for the first time with WSe2 as channel material and ferroelectric hafnium zirconium oxide in gate dielectric stack. F4-TCNQ is used as p-type dopant to suppress electron leakage current and to reduce Schottky barrier width for holes. WSe2 negative capacitance field-effect transistors with and without internal metal gate structures and the internal field-effect transistors are compared and studied. Significant SS reduction is observed in WSe2 negative capacitance field-effect transistors by inserting the ferroelectric hafnium zirconium oxide layer, suggesting the existence of internal amplification (∼10) due to the negative capacitance effect. Subthreshold slope less than 60 mV/dec (as low as 14.4 mV/dec) at room temperature is obtained for both forward and reverse gate voltage sweeps. Negative differential resistance is observed at room temperature on WSe2 negative capacitance field-effect-transistors as the result of negative capacitance induced negative drain-induced-barrier-lowering effect.

Mutual Capacitive Sensing Touch Screen Controller for Ultrathin Display with Extended Signal Passband Using Negative Capacitance.

Flexible and thin displays for smart devices have a large coupling capacitance between the sensor electrode of the touch screen panel (TSP) and the display electrode. This increased coupling capacitance limits the signal passband to less than 100 kHz, resulting in a significant reduction in the received signal, with a driving frequency of several hundred kilohertz used for noise avoidance. To overcome this problem, we reduced the effective capacitance at the analog front-end by connecting a circuit with a negative capacitance in parallel with the coupling capacitance of the TSP. In addition, the in-phase and quadrature demodulation scheme was used to address the phase fluctuation between the signal and the clock during demodulation. We fabricated a test chip using the 0.35 µm CMOS process and obtained a signal-to-noise ratio of 43.2 dB for a 6 mm diameter metal pillar touch input.

Voltage Drop in a Ferroelectric Single Layer Capacitor by Retarded Domain Nucleation.

Ferroelectric (FE) capacitor is a critical electric component in microelectronic devices. Among many of its intriguing properties, the recent finding of voltage drop (V-drop) across the FE capacitor while the positive charges flow in is especially eye-catching. This finding was claimed to be direct evidence that the FE capacitor is in negative capacitance (NC) state, which must be useful for (infinitely) high capacitance and ultralow voltage operation of field-effect transistors. Nonetheless, the NC state corresponds to the maximum energy state of the FE material, so it has been widely accepted in the community that the material alleviates that state by forming ferroelectric domains. This work reports a similar V-drop effect from the 150 nm thick epitaxial BaTiO3 ferroelectric thin film, but the interpretation was completely disparate; the V-drop can be precisely simulated by the reverse domain nucleation and propagation of which charge effect cannot be fully compensated for by the supplied charge from the external charge source. The disappearance of the V-drop effect was also observed by repeated FE switching only up to 10 cycles, which can hardly be explained by the involvement of the NC effect. The retained reverse domain nuclei even after the subsequent poling can explain such behavior.

Sustained Sub-60 mV/decade Switching via the Negative Capacitance Effect in MoS2 Transistors.

It has been shown that a ferroelectric material integrated into the gate stack of a transistor can create an effective negative capacitance (NC) that allows the device to overcome "Boltzmann tyranny". While this switching below the thermal limit has been observed with Si-based NC field-effect transistors (NC-FETs), the adaptation to 2D materials would enable a device that is scalable in operating voltage as well as size. In this work, we demonstrate sustained sub-60 mV/dec switching, with a minimum subthreshold swing (SS) of 6.07 mV/dec (average of 8.03 mV/dec over 4 orders of magnitude in drain current), by incorporating hafnium zirconium oxide (HfZrO2 or HZO) ferroelectric into the gate stack of a MoS2 2D-FET. By first fabricating and characterizing metal-ferroelectric-metal capacitors, the MoS2 is able to be transferred directly on top and characterized with both a standard and a negative capacitance gate stack. The 2D NC-FET exhibited marked enhancement in low-voltage switching behavior compared to the 2D-FET on the same MoS2 channel, reducing the SS by 2 orders of magnitude. A maximum internal voltage gain of ∼28× was realized with ∼12 nm thick HZO. Several unique dependencies were observed, including threshold voltage (Vth) shifts in the 2D NC-FET (compared to the 2D-FET) that correlate with source/drain overlap capacitance and changes in HZO (ferroelectric) and HfO2 (dielectric) thicknesses. Remarkable sub-60 mV/dec switching was obtained from 2D NC-FETs of various sizes and gate stack thicknesses, demonstrating great potential for enabling size- and voltage-scalable transistors.

Time-Dependent Negative Capacitance Effects in Al2O3/BaTiO3 Bilayers.

The negative capacitance (NC) effects in ferroelectric materials have emerged as the possible solution to low-power transistor devices and high-charge-density capacitors. Although the steep switching characteristic (subthreshold swing < sub-60 mV/dec) has been demonstrated in various devices combining the conventional transistors with ferroelectric gates, the actual applications of the NC effects are still some way off owing to the inherent hysteresis problem. This work reinterpreted the hysteretic properties of the NC effects within the time domain and demonstrated that capacitance (charge) boosting could be achieved without the hysteresis from the Al2O3/BaTiO3 bilayer capacitors through short-pulse charging. This work revealed that the hysteresis phenomenon in NC devices originated from the dielectric leakage of the dielectric layer. The suppression of charge injection via the dielectric leakage, which usually takes time, inhibits complete ferroelectric polarization switching during a short pulse time. It was demonstrated that a nonhysteretic NC effect can be achieved only within certain limited time and voltage ranges, but that these are sufficient for critical device applications.

Negative Capacitance in Organic/Ferroelectric Capacitor to Implement Steep Switching MOS Devices.

Because of the "Boltzmann tyranny" (i.e., the nonscalability of thermal voltage), a certain minimum gate voltage in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices is required for a 10-fold increase in drain-to-source current. The subthreshold slope (SS) in MOS devices is, at best, 60 mV/decade at 300 K. Negative capacitance in organic/ferroelectric materials is proposed in order to address this physical limitation in MOS technology. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the steep switching behavior of a MOS device-that is, SS ∼ 18 mV/decade (much less than 60 mV/decade) at 300 K-by taking advantage of negative capacitance in a MOS gate stack. This negative capacitance, originating from the dynamics of the stored energy in a phase transition of a ferroelectric material, can achieve the step-up conversion of internal voltage (i.e., internal voltage amplification in a MOS device). With the aid of a series-connected negative capacitor as an assistive device, the surface potential in the MOS device becomes higher than the applied gate voltage, so that a SS of 18 mV/decade at 300 K is reliably observed.

Room-temperature negative capacitance in a ferroelectric-dielectric superlattice heterostructure.

We demonstrate room-temperature negative capacitance in a ferroelectric-dielectric superlattice heterostructure. In epitaxially grown superlattice of ferroelectric BSTO (Ba0.8Sr0.2TiO3) and dielectric LAO (LaAlO3), capacitance was found to be larger compared to the constituent LAO (dielectric) capacitance. This enhancement of capacitance in a series combination of two capacitors indicates that the ferroelectric was stabilized in a state of negative capacitance. Negative capacitance was observed for superlattices grown on three different substrates (SrTiO3 (001), DyScO3 (110), and GdScO3 (110)) covering a large range of substrate strain. This demonstrates the robustness of the effect as well as potential for controlling the negative capacitance effect using epitaxial strain. Room-temperature demonstration of negative capacitance is an important step toward lowering the subthreshold swing in a transistor below the intrinsic thermodynamic limit of 60 mV/decade and thereby improving energy efficiency.

First Observation of Negative Capacitance in Molecular Ferroelectric Thin Films.

On the path of persisting Moore's Law, one of the biggest obstacles is the "Boltzmann tyranny," which defines the lower limit of power consumption of individual transistors. Negative capacitance (NC) in ferroelectrics could provide a solution and has garnered significant attention in the fields of nanoelectronics, materials science, and solid-state physics. Molecular ferroelectrics, as an integral part of ferroelectrics, have developed rapidly in terms of both performance and functionality, with their inherent advantages such as easy fabrication, mechanical flexibility, low processing temperature, and structural tunability. However, studies on the NC in molecular ferroelectrics are limited. In this study, the focus is centered on the fabricated high-quality thin films of trimethylchloromethyl ammonium trichlorocadmium(II), and a pioneering investigation on their NC responses is conducted. The findings demonstrate that the NC exhibited by molecular ferroelectrics is comparable to that of conventional HfO2 -based ferroelectrics. This underscores the potential of molecular material systems for next-generation electronic devices.

Low-Intensity Light Detection with a High Detectivity Using 2D-Sb2Se3 Nanoflakes on 1D-ZnO Nanorods as Heterojunction Photodetectors.

Multifunctional photodetectors (PDs) with broadband responsivity (R) and specific detectivity (D*) at low light intensities are gaining significant attention. Thus, we report a bilayer PD creatively fabricated by layering two-dimensional (2D) Sb2Se3 nanoflakes (NFs) on one-dimensional (1D) ZnO nanorods (NRs) using simple thermal transfer and hydrothermal processes. The unique coupling of these two layers of materials in a nanostructured form, such as 2D-Sb2Se3 NFs/1D-ZnO NRs, provides an effective large surface area, robust charge transport paths, and light-trapping effects that enhance light harvesting. Furthermore, the combination of both layers can effectively facilitate photoactivity owing to proper band alignment. The as-fabricated device demonstrated superior overall performance in terms of a suitable bandwidth, good R, and high D* under low-intensity light, unlike the single-layered 1D-ZnO NRs and 2D-Sb2Se3 NF structures alone, which had poor detectivity or response in the measured spectral range. The PD demonstrated a spectral photoresponse ranging from ultraviolet (UV) to visible (220-628 nm) light at intensities as low as 0.15 mW·cm-2. The PD yielded a D* value of 3.15 × 1013 Jones (220 nm), which reached up to 5.95 × 1013 Jones in the visible light region (628 nm) at a 3 V bias. This study demonstrated that the 2D-Sb2Se3 NFs/1D-ZnO NRs PD has excellent potential for low-intensity light detection with a broad bandwidth, which is useful for signal communications and optoelectronic systems.

Ultrafast Negative Capacitance Transition for 2D Ferroelectric MoS2/Graphene Transistor.

Negative capacitance gives rise to subthreshold swing (SS) below the fundamental limit by efficient modulation of surface potential in transistors. While negative-capacitance transition is reported in polycrystalline Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 (PZT) and HfZrO2 (HZO) thin-films in few microseconds timescale, low SS is not persistent over a wide range of drain current when used instead of conventional dielectrics. In this work, the clear nano-second negative transition states in 2D single-crystal CuInP2S6 (CIPS) flakes have been demonstrated by an alternative fast-transient measurement technique. Further, integrating this ultrafast NC transition with the localized density of states of Dirac contacts and controlled charge transfer in the CIPS/channel (MoS2/graphene) a state-of-the-art device architecture, negative capacitance Dirac source drain field effect transistor (FET) is introduced. This yields an ultralow SS of 4.8 mV dec-1 with an average sub-10 SS across five decades with on-off ratio exceeding 107, by simultaneous improvement of transport and body factors in monolayer MoS2-based FET, outperforming all previous reports. This approach could pave the way to achieve ultralow-SS FETs for future high-speed and low-power electronics.

WSe2 Negative Capacitance Field-Effect Transistor for Biosensing Applications.

Field-effect transistor (FET) biosensors based on two-dimensional (2D) materials are highly sought after for their high sensitivity, label-free detection, fast response, and ease of on-chip integration. However, the subthreshold swing (SS) of FETs is constrained by the Boltzmann limit and cannot fall below 60 mV/dec, hindering sensor sensitivity enhancement. Additionally, the gate-leakage current of 2D material biosensors in liquid environments significantly increases, adversely affecting the detection accuracy and stability. Based on the principle of negative capacitance, this paper presents for the first time a two-dimensional material WSe2 negative capacitance field-effect transistor (NCFET) with a minimum subthreshold swing of 56 mV/dec in aqueous solution. The NCFET shows a significantly improved biosensor function. The pH detection sensitivity of the NCFET biosensor reaches 994 pH-1, nearly an order of magnitude higher than that of the traditional two-dimensional WSe2 FET biosensor. The Al2O3/HfZrO (HZO) bilayer dielectric in the NCFET not only contributes to negative capacitance characteristics in solution but also significantly reduces the leakage in solution. Utilizing an enzyme catalysis method, the WSe2 NCFET biosensor demonstrates a specific detection of glucose molecules, achieving a high sensitivity of 4800 A/A in a 5 mM glucose solution and a low detection limit (10-9 M). Further experiments also exhibit the ability of the biosensor to detect glucose in sweat.