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Edge-Trimmed Nanogaps in 2D Materials for Robust, Scalable, and Tunable Lateral Tunnel Junctions

Lateral tunnel junctions are fundamental building blocks for molecular electronics and novel sensors, but current fabrication approaches achieve device yields below 10%, which limits their appeal for circuit integration and large-scale application. We here demonstrate a new approach to reliably form...

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Autores principales: Nguyen, Hai-Thai, Nguyen, Yen, Su, Yen-Hsun, Hsieh, Ya-Ping, Hofmann, Mario
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8070335/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33920302
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano11040981
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author Nguyen, Hai-Thai
Nguyen, Yen
Su, Yen-Hsun
Hsieh, Ya-Ping
Hofmann, Mario
author_facet Nguyen, Hai-Thai
Nguyen, Yen
Su, Yen-Hsun
Hsieh, Ya-Ping
Hofmann, Mario
author_sort Nguyen, Hai-Thai
collection PubMed
description Lateral tunnel junctions are fundamental building blocks for molecular electronics and novel sensors, but current fabrication approaches achieve device yields below 10%, which limits their appeal for circuit integration and large-scale application. We here demonstrate a new approach to reliably form nanometer-sized gaps between electrodes with high precision and unprecedented control. This advance in nanogap production is enabled by the unique properties of 2D materials-based contacts. The large difference in reactivity of 2D materials’ edges compared to their basal plane results in a sequential removal of atoms from the contact perimeter. The resulting trimming of exposed graphene edges in a remote hydrogen plasma proceeds at speeds of less than 1 nm per minute, permitting accurate control of the nanogap dimension through the etching process. Carrier transport measurements reveal the high quality of the nanogap, thus-produced tunnel junctions with a 97% yield rate, which represents a tenfold increase in productivity compared to previous reports. Moreover, 70% of tunnel junctions fall within a nanogap range of only 0.5 nm, representing an unprecedented uniformity in dimension. The presented edge-trimming approach enables the conformal narrowing of gaps and produces novel one-dimensional nano-trench geometries that can sustain larger tunneling currents than conventional 0D nano-junctions. Finally, the potential of our approach for future electronics was demonstrated by the realization of an atom-based memory.
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spelling pubmed-80703352021-04-26 Edge-Trimmed Nanogaps in 2D Materials for Robust, Scalable, and Tunable Lateral Tunnel Junctions Nguyen, Hai-Thai Nguyen, Yen Su, Yen-Hsun Hsieh, Ya-Ping Hofmann, Mario Nanomaterials (Basel) Article Lateral tunnel junctions are fundamental building blocks for molecular electronics and novel sensors, but current fabrication approaches achieve device yields below 10%, which limits their appeal for circuit integration and large-scale application. We here demonstrate a new approach to reliably form nanometer-sized gaps between electrodes with high precision and unprecedented control. This advance in nanogap production is enabled by the unique properties of 2D materials-based contacts. The large difference in reactivity of 2D materials’ edges compared to their basal plane results in a sequential removal of atoms from the contact perimeter. The resulting trimming of exposed graphene edges in a remote hydrogen plasma proceeds at speeds of less than 1 nm per minute, permitting accurate control of the nanogap dimension through the etching process. Carrier transport measurements reveal the high quality of the nanogap, thus-produced tunnel junctions with a 97% yield rate, which represents a tenfold increase in productivity compared to previous reports. Moreover, 70% of tunnel junctions fall within a nanogap range of only 0.5 nm, representing an unprecedented uniformity in dimension. The presented edge-trimming approach enables the conformal narrowing of gaps and produces novel one-dimensional nano-trench geometries that can sustain larger tunneling currents than conventional 0D nano-junctions. Finally, the potential of our approach for future electronics was demonstrated by the realization of an atom-based memory. MDPI 2021-04-10 /pmc/articles/PMC8070335/ /pubmed/33920302 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano11040981 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Nguyen, Hai-Thai
Nguyen, Yen
Su, Yen-Hsun
Hsieh, Ya-Ping
Hofmann, Mario
Edge-Trimmed Nanogaps in 2D Materials for Robust, Scalable, and Tunable Lateral Tunnel Junctions
title Edge-Trimmed Nanogaps in 2D Materials for Robust, Scalable, and Tunable Lateral Tunnel Junctions
title_full Edge-Trimmed Nanogaps in 2D Materials for Robust, Scalable, and Tunable Lateral Tunnel Junctions
title_fullStr Edge-Trimmed Nanogaps in 2D Materials for Robust, Scalable, and Tunable Lateral Tunnel Junctions
title_full_unstemmed Edge-Trimmed Nanogaps in 2D Materials for Robust, Scalable, and Tunable Lateral Tunnel Junctions
title_short Edge-Trimmed Nanogaps in 2D Materials for Robust, Scalable, and Tunable Lateral Tunnel Junctions
title_sort edge-trimmed nanogaps in 2d materials for robust, scalable, and tunable lateral tunnel junctions
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8070335/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33920302
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano11040981
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