Recent advances in flexible and stretchable electronics (FSE), a technology diverging from the conventional rigid silicon technology, have stimulated fundamental scientific and technological research efforts. FSE aims at enabling disruptive applications such as flexible displays, wearable sensors, printed RFID tags on packaging, electronics on skin/organs, and Internet-of-things as well as possibly reducing the cost of electronic device fabrication. Thus, the key materials components of electronics, the semiconductor, the dielectric, and the conductor as well as the passive (substrate, planarization, passivation, and encapsulation layers) must exhibit electrical performance and mechanical properties compatible with FSE components and products. In this review, we summarize and analyze recent advances in materials concepts as well as in thin-film fabrication techniques for high-k (or high-capacitance) gate dielectrics when integrated with FSE-compatible semiconductors such as organics, metal oxides, quantum...

High- k Gate Dielectrics for Emerging Flexible and Stretchable Electronics

Resistive switching (RS) is an interesting property shown by some materials systems that, especially during the last decade, has gained a lot of interest for the fabrication of electronic devices, with electronic nonvolatile memories being those that have received the most attention. The presence and quality of the RS phenomenon in a materials system can be studied using different prototype cells, performing different experiments, displaying different figures of merit, and developing different computational analyses. Therefore, the real usefulness and impact of the findings presented in each study for the RS technology will be also different. This manuscript describes the most recommendable methodologies for the fabrication, characterization, and simulation of RS devices, as well as the proper methods to display the data obtained. The idea is to help the scientific community to evaluate the real usefulness and impact of an RS study for the development of RS technology. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

/pdf/recommended-methods-to-study-resistive-switching-devices-3x6t509oow.pdf

Recommended Methods to Study Resistive Switching Devices

The existence of reversible resistance switching (RS) behaviors induced by electric stimulus has been known for some time, and these intriguing physical phenomena have been observed in numerous materials, including oxides. As conventional charge-based random access memory is expected to face a size limit in the near future, a surge of renewed interest has been developed in RS phenomena for possible applications in small nonvolatile memory devices called resistance random access memory (RRAM). Of particular interest is unipolar RS, which shows the RS at two values of applied voltage of the same polarity. The unipolar RS exhibits a much larger resistance change than other RS phenomena, and this greatly simplifies the process of reading the memory state. When fabricated with oxide p-n diodes, memory cells using unipolar RS can be stacked vertically, which has the potential for dramatically increasing memory density. Therefore, unipolar RRAM may be a good candidate for multi-stacked, high density, nonvolatile memory. The most important scientific and technical issues concerning unipolar RS are how it works and the identification of its controlling parameters. Some studies have reported that unipolar RS comes from a homogeneous/inhomogeneous transition of current distribution, while others maintain that it comes from the formation and rupture of conducting filaments. Even with recent extensive studies on unipolar RS, its basic origin is still far from being understood. In addition, no model exists that actually explains how the reversible switching can occur at two values of applied voltage. This lack of a quantitative model poses a major barrier for unipolar RRAM applications. In this study, we describe RS behavior in polycrystalline TiO2 film. To explain the basic mechanism of unipolar RS behavior, we propose a new percolation model based on a network of ‘‘circuit breakers’’ with two switchable metastable states. The random circuit breaker (RCB) network model can explain the long-standing material issue of how unipolar RS occurs. This simple percolation model is different from the conventional percolation models, which have dealt only with static or irreversible dynamic processes. In addition, the RCB network model provides an indication of how to overcome the substantial distribution of switching voltages, which is currently considered the most serious obstacle to practical unipolar RRAM applications. The unipolar RS phenomenon can be explained by the current (I)-voltage (V) curves in Figure 1a, which are derived from measurements of our polycrystalline TiO2 thin capacitors. At the pristine state (green dot), they are in an insulating state. As the external voltage Vext increases from zero and reaches a threshold voltage Vforming, a sudden increase occurs in the current. If the current is not limited to a certain value, here called the compliance current Icomp, the TiO2 capacitor would experience a dielectric breakdown and be destroyed. However, [*] Prof. T. W. Noh, S. C. Chae, S. B. Lee, S. H Chang, Dr. C. Liu ReCOE & FPRD, Department of Physics and Astronomy Seoul National University Seoul 151-747 (Korea) E-mail: twnoh@snu.ac.kr

Random circuit breaker network model for unipolar resistance switching (Advanced Materials (2008) 20 (1154))

We have produced ultrathin epitaxial graphite films which show remarkable 2D electron gas (2DEG) behavior. The films, composed of typically 3 graphene sheets, were grown by thermal decomposition on the (0001) surface of 6H-SiC, and characterized by surface-science techniques. The low-temperature conductance spans a range of localization regimes according to the structural state (square resistance 1.5 kOhm to 225 kOhm at 4 K, with positive magnetoconductance). Low resistance samples show characteristics of weak-localization in two dimensions, from which we estimate elastic and inelastic mean free paths. At low field, the Hall resistance is linear up to 4.5 T, which is well-explained by n-type carriers of density 10^{12} cm^{-2} per graphene sheet. The most highly-ordered sample exhibits Shubnikov - de Haas oscillations which correspond to nonlinearities observed in the Hall resistance, indicating a potential new quantum Hall system. We show that the high-mobility films can be patterned via conventional lithographic techniques, and we demonstrate modulation of the film conductance using a top-gate electrode. These key elements suggest electronic device applications based on nano-patterned epitaxial graphene (NPEG), with the potential for large-scale integration.

Ultrathin epitaxial graphite: 2D electron gas properties and a route toward graphene-based nanoelectronics

With the profuse amount of two-dimensional (2D) materials discovered and the improvements in their synthesis and handling, the field of 2D heterostructures has gained increased interest in recent years. Such heterostructures not only overcome the inherent limitations of each of the materials, but also allow the realization of novel properties by their proper combination. The physical and mechanical properties of graphene mean it has a prominent place in the area of 2D heterostructures. In this review, we will discuss the evolution and current state in the synthesis and applications of graphene-based 2D heterostructures. In addition to stacked and in-plane heterostructures with other 2D materials and their potential applications, we will also cover heterostructures realized with lower dimensionality materials, along with intercalation in few-layer graphene as a special case of a heterostructure. Finally, graphene heterostructures produced using liquid phase exfoliation techniques and their applications to energy storage will be reviewed.

/pdf/synthesis-structure-and-applications-of-graphene-based-2d-nv3tlbcbvr.pdf

Synthesis, structure and applications of graphene-based 2D heterostructures

High-quality channel layer is required for next-generation flexible electronic devices. Graphene is a good candidate due to its high carrier mobility and unique ambipolar transport characteristics but typically shows a low on/off ratio caused by gapless band structure. Popularly investigated organic semiconductors, such as pentacene, suffer from poor carrier mobility. Here, we propose a graphene/pentacene channel layer with high-k ion-gel gate dielectric. The graphene/pentacene device shows both high on/off ratio and carrier mobility as well as excellent mechanical flexibility. Most importantly, it reveals ambipolar behaviors and related negative differential resistance, which are controlled by external bias. Therefore, our graphene/pentacene barristor with ion-gel gate dielectric can offer various flexible device applications with high performances.

Graphene/Pentacene Barristor with Ion-Gel Gate Dielectric: Flexible Ambipolar Transistor with High Mobility and On/Off Ratio

Fabricating in-plane transistor and memory using atomic force microscope lithography towards graphene system on chip

Resistive random access memory (ReRAM) devices have been extensively investigated resulting in significant enhancement of switching properties. However fluctuations in switching parameters are still critical weak points which cause serious failures during ‘reading’ and ‘writing’ operations of ReRAM devices. It is believed that such fluctuations may be originated by random creation and rupture of conducting filaments inside ReRAM oxides. Here, we introduce defective monolayer graphene between an oxide film and an electrode to induce confined current path distribution inside the oxide film, and thus control the creation and rupture of conducting filaments. The ReRAM device with an atomically thin interlayer of defective monolayer graphene reveals much reduced fluctuations in switching parameters compared to a conventional one. Our results demonstrate that defective monolayer graphene paves the way to reliable ReRAM devices operating under confined current path distribution.

/pdf/enhancement-of-resistive-switching-under-confined-current-319x5mbkja.pdf

Cheol Kyeom Kim

Papers

Graphene/Pentacene Barristor with Ion-Gel Gate Dielectric: Flexible Ambipolar Transistor with High Mobility and On/Off Ratio

Fabricating in-plane transistor and memory using atomic force microscope lithography towards graphene system on chip

Enhancement of resistive switching under confined current path distribution enabled by insertion of atomically thin defective monolayer graphene.