Worldwide commercial interest in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is reflected in a production capacity that presently exceeds several thousand tons per year. Currently, bulk CNT powders are incorporated in diverse commercial products ranging from rechargeable batteries, automotive parts, and sporting goods to boat hulls and water filters. Advances in CNT synthesis, purification, and chemical modification are enabling integration of CNTs in thin-film electronics and large-area coatings. Although not yet providing compelling mechanical strength or electrical or thermal conductivities for many applications, CNT yarns and sheets already have promising performance for applications including supercapacitors, actuators, and lightweight electromagnetic shields.

/pdf/carbon-nanotubes-present-and-future-commercial-applications-1nhq3xy4hh.pdf

Carbon Nanotubes: Present and Future Commercial Applications

Many metal–insulator–metal systems show electrically induced resistive switching effects and have therefore been proposed as the basis for future non-volatile memories. They combine the advantages of Flash and DRAM (dynamic random access memories) while avoiding their drawbacks, and they might be highly scalable. Here we propose a coarse-grained classification into primarily thermal, electrical or ion-migration-induced switching mechanisms. The ion-migration effects are coupled to redox processes which cause the change in resistance. They are subdivided into cation-migration cells, based on the electrochemical growth and dissolution of metallic filaments, and anion-migration cells, typically realized with transition metal oxides as the insulator, in which electronically conducting paths of sub-oxides are formed and removed by local redox processes. From this insight, we take a brief look into molecular switching systems. Finally, we discuss chip architecture and scaling issues.

http://chialvo.org/Curso/UBACurso/DIA7/Papers/Aono_NatMat_07_Ionic%20Switching%20Memory.pdf

Nanoionics-based resistive switching memories

Redox‐Based Resistive Switching Memories – Nanoionic Mechanisms, Prospects, and Challenges

Graphene’s success has shown that it is possible to create stable, single and few-atom-thick layers of van der Waals materials, and also that these materials can exhibit fascinating and technologically useful properties. Here we review the state-of-the-art of 2D materials beyond graphene. Initially, we will outline the different chemical classes of 2D materials and discuss the various strategies to prepare single-layer, few-layer, and multilayer assembly materials in solution, on substrates, and on the wafer scale. Additionally, we present an experimental guide for identifying and characterizing single-layer-thick materials, as well as outlining emerging techniques that yield both local and global information. We describe the differences that occur in the electronic structure between the bulk and the single layer and discuss various methods of tuning their electronic properties by manipulating the surface. Finally, we highlight the properties and advantages of single-, few-, and many-layer 2D materials in...

/pdf/progress-challenges-and-opportunities-in-two-dimensional-1sweg4hljr.pdf

Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities in Two-Dimensional Materials Beyond Graphene

The compelling demand for higher performance and lower power consumption in electronic systems is the main driving force of the electronics industry's quest for devices and/or architectures based on new materials. Here, we provide a review of electronic devices based on two-dimensional materials, outlining their potential as a technological option beyond scaled complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor switches. We focus on the performance limits and advantages of these materials and associated technologies, when exploited for both digital and analog applications, focusing on the main figures of merit needed to meet industry requirements. We also discuss the use of two-dimensional materials as an enabling factor for flexible electronics and provide our perspectives on future developments.

Electronics based on two-dimensional materials

Power dissipation is a fundamental problem for nanoelectronic circuits. Scaling the supply voltage reduces the energy needed for switching, but the field-effect transistors (FETs) in today's integrated circuits require at least 60 mV of gate voltage to increase the current by one order of magnitude at room temperature. Tunnel FETs avoid this limit by using quantum-mechanical band-to-band tunnelling, rather than thermal injection, to inject charge carriers into the device channel. Tunnel FETs based on ultrathin semiconducting films or nanowires could achieve a 100-fold power reduction over complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistors, so integrating tunnel FETs with CMOS technology could improve low-power integrated circuits.

Tunnel field-effect transistors as energy-efficient electronic switches

Semiconducting nanowires have recently attracted considerable attention. With their unique electrical and optical properties, they offer interesting perspectives for basic research as well as for technology. A variety of technical applications, such as nanowires as parts of sensors, and electronic and photonic devices have already been demonstrated. In particular, electronic applications come more and more into focus, as the ongoing miniaturization in microelectronics demands new innovative solutions. Semiconducting nanowires, in particular epitaxially grown silicon (Si) nanowires, are considered as promising candidates for post-CMOS (CMOS: complementary metal–oxide semiconductor) logic elements owing to their potential compatibility with existing CMOS technology. One major advantage of vapor–liquid– solid(VLS-) grown nanowires compared to top-down fabricated devices is that they have well-defined surfaces. This reduces surface scattering, an issue which becomes important for devices on the nanoscale. Moreover, epitaxially grown nanowires circumvent the problem of handling and positioning nanometer-sized objects that arises in the conventional pick-and-place approach, where devices are fabricated by manipulating horizontally lying VLS-grown nanowires. The first step towards a technical realization of a nanowire logic element is the design and manufacturing of a nanowire transistor. The epitaxial growth of vertical nanowires offers advantages over other approaches: For example, the transistor gate can be wrapped around the vertically oriented nanowire. Such a wrapped-around gate allows better electrostatic gate control of the conducting channel and offers the potential to drive more current per device area than is possible in a conventional planar architecture. In this Communication, a generic process for fabricating a vertical surround-gate field-effect transistor (VS-FET) based on epitaxially grown nanowires is described. Exemplarily, we used Si nanowires and present a first electrical characterization proving the feasibility of the process developed and the basic functionality of this device. Figure 1a shows a schematic cross section through a conventional p-type MOSFET. In such a device, an inversion channel can be created close to the gate by applying a negative gate voltage. This forms a conducting channel that connects the p-doped regions between the source and drain contacts electrically. Using this concept, a silicon nanowire VS-FET would ideally require a nanowire that is n-doped in the region of the gate and p-doped elsewhere. Unfortunately, such a p-n-p structure with abrupt transitions appears difficult to realize if the nanowires are grown by means of the vapor–liquid–solid mechanism using gold as a catalyst. The difficulty here is that the dopant atoms, which are dissolved in the catalyst droplet, might act as a reservoir, thus creating a graded transition when switching to another dopant. Therefore, we used a structure consisting of an n-doped silicon nanowire grown on a p-type substrate (see Figure 1b). If the gate–drain and gate–source distances are not too long, it is electrostatically still possible to create an inversion channel along the length of the entire wire. In the proposed configuration, the p–n junction at the source contact (Figure 1a) is replaced by a Au/n-Si Schottky contact at the nanowire tip. In order to investigate the influence of the Au/n-Si Schottky contact on the nanowire (current–voltage) I–V characteristics, an array of n-doped nanowires vertically grown on an n-type (111)-oriented substrate was imbedded in a spin-coated SiO2 matrix. After removing the thin SiO2 coverage from the Au tips by a short reactive ion etching, contacts 0.6 mm in size were defined by evaporating aluminum onto the sample, such that approximately 10 nanowires were contacted in parallel. The temperature-dependent measurements (shown in Figure 2) were performed by applying a voltage to the Si substrate, while the Al top contact was held at a constant potential. The measurements reveal a strong rectifying behavior with a thermally activated current possessing an activation energy of 0.6 eV. This can be explained by the Au/n-Si Schottky contact dominating the I–V behavior. The fact that the Schottky contact is forward-biased for negative voltages furthermore proves that, as expected, electrons act as majority charge carries. Figure 1. Schematics of a) a conventional p-channel MOSFET and b) a silicon nanowire vertical surround-gate field-effect transistor.

Realization of a silicon nanowire vertical surround-gate field-effect transistor.

This paper discusses the electronic transport properties of nanowire field-effect transistors (NW-FETs). Four different device concepts are studied in detail: Schottky-barrier NW-FETs with metallic source and drain contacts, conventional-type NW-FETs with doped NW segments as source and drain electrodes, and, finally, two new concepts that enable steep turn-on characteristics, namely, NW impact ionization FETs and tunnel NW-FETs. As it turns out, NW-FETs are, to a large extent, determined by the device geometry, the dimensionality of the electronic transport, and the way of making contacts to the NW. Analytical as well as simulation results are compared with experimental data to explain the various factors impacting the electronic transport in NW-FETs.

/pdf/toward-nanowire-electronics-2ea30585ug.pdf

Toward Nanowire Electronics

Electronic devices based on semiconductor nanowires will rely on the location and number of dopant atoms in the host semiconductor being controlled during the fabrication process. It has now been shown that the properties of dopant atoms — in particular, their ionization energies — change with nanowire radius more markedly than previously predicted.

Donor deactivation in silicon nanostructures.

A numerical study of space charge effects in multilayer organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) is presented. The method of solving the coupled Poisson and continuity equations, previously established for single-layer polymer LEDs, has been extended to treat internal organic interfaces. In addition, we consider the transient current and electroluminescence response. We discuss the accumulation of charges at internal interfaces and their signature in the transient response as well as the electric field distribution. Comparison to experimental transient data of a typical bilayer LED based on tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato)aluminum (Alq3) is provided and good agreement is found. Our results are consistent with commonly assumed operating principles of bilayer LEDs. In particular, the assumptions that the electric field is predominantly dropped across the Alq3 layer and that the electroluminescence delay time is determined by electrons passing through Alq3 to the internal interface are self-consistently supported by ...

/pdf/transient-and-steady-state-behavior-of-space-charges-in-2ib5yn68vy.pdf

Heike Riel

Papers

Tunnel field-effect transistors as energy-efficient electronic switches

Realization of a silicon nanowire vertical surround-gate field-effect transistor.

Toward Nanowire Electronics

Donor deactivation in silicon nanostructures.

Transient and steady-state behavior of space charges in multilayer organic light-emitting diodes