Flexible p-Type WSe Transistors with Alumina Top-Gate Dielectric.

Tungsten diselenide (WSe) field-effect transistors (FETs) are promising for emerging electronics because of their tunable polarity, enabling complementary transistor technology, and their suitability for flexible electronics through material transfer. In this work, we demonstrate flexible p-type WSe FETs with absolute drain currents || up to 7 μA/μm. We achieve this by fabricating flexible top-gated FETs with a combined WSe and metal contact transfer approach using WSe grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on sapphire.

Improving stability in two-dimensional transistors with amorphous gate oxides by Fermi-level tuning.

Electronic devices based on two-dimensional semiconductors suffer from limited electrical stability because charge carriers originating from the semiconductors interact with defects in the surrounding insulators. In field-effect transistors, the resulting trapped charges can lead to large hysteresis and device drifts, particularly when common amorphous gate oxides (such as silicon or hafnium dioxide) are used, hindering stable circuit operation. Here, we show that device stability in graphene-based field-effect transistors with amorphous gate oxides can be improved by Fermi-level tuning.

Stacking Polymorphism in PtSe Drastically Affects Its Electromechanical Properties.

PtSe is one of the most promising materials for the next generation of piezoresistive sensors. However, the large-scale synthesis of homogeneous thin films with reproducible electromechanical properties is challenging due to polycrystallinity. It is shown that stacking phases other than the 1T phase become thermodynamically available at elevated temperatures that are common during synthesis.

Graphene with Ni-Grid as Semitransparent Electrode for Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells (BHJ-SCs).

In this work, we present the fabrication and characterization of bulk-heterojunction solar cells on monolayer graphene (MLG) with nickel-grids (Ni-grid) as semitransparent conductive electrode. The electrodes showed a maximum transmittance of 90% (calculated in 300-800 nm range) and a sheet resistance down to 35 Ω/□. On these new anodes, we fabricated TCO free BHJ-SCs using PTB7 blended with PC70BM fullerene derivative as active layer.

Zero-Bias Power-Detector Circuits based on MoS Field-Effect Transistors on Wafer-Scale Flexible Substrates.

The design, fabrication, and characterization of wafer-scale, zero-bias power detectors based on 2D MoS field-effect transistors (FETs) are demonstrated. The MoS FETs are fabricated using a wafer-scale process on 8 μm-thick polyimide film, which, in principle, serves as a flexible substrate. The performances of two chemical vapor deposition MoS sheets, grown with different processes and showing different thicknesses, are analyzed and compared from the single device fabrication and characterization steps to the circuit level.

Graphene-Based Microwave Circuits: A Review.

Over the past two decades, research on 2D materials has received much interest. Graphene is the most promising candidate regarding high-frequency applications thus far due to is high carrier mobility. Here, the research about the employment of graphene in micro- and millimeter-wave circuits is reviewed.

Evidence for Local Spots of Viscous Electron Flow in Graphene at Moderate Mobility.

Dominating electron-electron scattering enables viscous electron flow exhibiting hydrodynamic current density patterns, such as Poiseuille profiles or vortices. The viscous regime has recently been observed in graphene by nonlocal transport experiments and mapping of the Poiseuille profile. Herein, we probe the current-induced surface potential maps of graphene field-effect transistors with moderate mobility using scanning probe microscopy at room temperature.

Electron-Hole Crossover in Gate-Controlled Bilayer Graphene Quantum Dots.

Electron and hole Bloch states in bilayer graphene exhibit topological orbital magnetic moments with opposite signs, which allows for tunable valley-polarization in an out-of-plane magnetic field. This property makes electron and hole quantum dots (QDs) in bilayer graphene interesting for valley and spin-valley qubits. Here, we show measurements of the electron-hole crossover in a bilayer graphene QD, demonstrating opposite signs of the magnetic moments associated with the Berry curvature.

Graphene-Quantum Dot Hybrid Photodetectors with Low Dark-Current Readout.

Graphene-based photodetectors have shown responsivities up to 10 A/W and photoconductive gains up to 10 electrons per photon. These photodetectors rely on a highly absorbing layer in close proximity to graphene, which induces a shift of the graphene chemical potential upon absorption, hence modifying its channel resistance. However, due to the semimetallic nature of graphene, the readout requires dark currents of hundreds of microamperes up to milliamperes, leading to high power consumption needed for the device operation.

Does carrier velocity saturation help to enhance in graphene field-effect transistors?

It has been argued that current saturation in graphene field-effect transistors (GFETs) is needed to get optimal maximum oscillation frequency ( ). This paper investigates whether velocity saturation can help to get better current saturation and if that correlates with enhanced . We have fabricated 500 nm GFETs with high extrinsic (37 GHz), and later simulated with a drift-diffusion model augmented with the relevant factors that influence carrier velocity, namely: short-channel electrostatics, saturation velocity effect, graphene/dielectric interface traps, and self-heating effects.

Observation of the Spin-Orbit Gap in Bilayer Graphene by One-Dimensional Ballistic Transport.

We report on measurements of quantized conductance in gate-defined quantum point contacts in bilayer graphene that allow the observation of subband splittings due to spin-orbit coupling. The size of this splitting can be tuned from 40 to 80  μeV by the displacement field. We assign this gate-tunable subband splitting to a gap induced by spin-orbit coupling of Kane-Mele type, enhanced by proximity effects due to the substrate.

Gate-tunable graphene-based Hall sensors on flexible substrates with increased sensitivity.

We demonstrate a novel concept for operating graphene-based Hall sensors using an alternating current (AC) modulated gate voltage, which provides three important advantages compared to Hall sensors under static operation: (1) The sensor sensitivity can be doubled by utilizing both n- and p-type conductance. (2) A static magnetic field can be read out at frequencies in the kHz range, where the 1/f noise is lower compared to the static case. (3) The off-set voltage in the Hall signal can be reduced.

Probing the mechanical properties of vertically-stacked ultrathin graphene/AlO heterostructures.

The superior intrinsic mechanical properties of graphene have been widely studied and utilized to enhance the mechanical properties of various composite materials. However, it is still unclear how heterostructures incorporating graphene behave, and to what extent graphene influences their mechanical response. In this work, a series of graphene/AlO composite films were fabricated via atomic layer deposition of AlO on graphene, and their mechanical behavior was studied using an experimental-computational approach.

Gate-Defined Electron-Hole Double Dots in Bilayer Graphene.

We present gate-controlled single-, double-, and triple-dot operation in electrostatically gapped bilayer graphene. Thanks to the recent advancements in sample fabrication, which include the encapsulation of bilayer graphene in hexagonal boron nitride and the use of graphite gates, it has become possible to electrostatically confine carriers in bilayer graphene and to completely pinch-off current through quantum dot devices. Here, we discuss the operation and characterization of electron-hole double dots.

Graphene based on-chip variable optical attenuator operating at 855 nm wavelength.

This work reports on the fabrication and characterization of a graphene based variable optical attenuator integrated on a photonic SiN waveguide and operating at 855 nm wavelength. The variable optical attenuator utilizes the gate voltage dependent optical absorption of a graphene layer, located in the evanescent field of the waveguide. A maximum attenuation of 17 dB is obtained at -3 V gate voltages for a device length of 700 µm.

Graphene integrated circuits: new prospects towards receiver realisation.

This work demonstrates a design approach which enables the fabrication of fully integrated radio frequency (RF) and millimetre-wave frequency direct-conversion graphene receivers by adapting the frontend architecture to exploit the state-of-the-art performance of the recently reported wafer-scale CVD metal-insulator-graphene (MIG) diodes. As a proof-of-concept, we built a fully integrated microwave receiver in the frequency range 2.1-2.

High performance metal-insulator-graphene diodes for radio frequency power detection application.

Vertical metal-insulator-graphene (MIG) diodes for radio frequency (RF) power detection are realized using a scalable approach based on graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition and TiO as barrier material. The temperature dependent current flow through the diode can be described by thermionic emission theory taking into account a bias induced barrier lowering at the graphene TiO interface. The diodes show excellent figures of merit for static operation, including high on-current density of up to 28 A cm, high asymmetry of up to 520, strong maximum nonlinearity of up to 15, and large maximum responsivity of up to 26 V, outperforming state-of-the-art metal-insulator-metal and MIG diodes.

The integration of graphene into microelectronic devices.

Since 2004 the field of graphene research has attracted increasing interest worldwide. Especially the integration of graphene into microelectronic devices has the potential for numerous applications. Therefore, we summarize the current knowledge on this aspect.

Complex effective index in graphene-silicon waveguides.

We report for the first time and characterize experimentally the complex optical conductivity of graphene on silicon photonic waveguides. This permits us to predict accurately the behavior of photonic integrated devices encompassing graphene layers. Exploiting a Si microring add/drop resonator, we show the effect of electrical gating of graphene on the complex effective index of the waveguide by measuring both the wavelength shift of the resonance and the change in the drop peak transmission.

Controlled Generation of a p-n Junction in a Waveguide Integrated Graphene Photodetector.

With its electrically tunable light absorption and ultrafast photoresponse, graphene is a promising candidate for high-speed chip-integrated photonics. The generation mechanisms of photosignals in graphene photodetectors have been studied extensively in the past years. However, the knowledge about efficient light conversion at graphene p-n junctions has not yet been translated into high-performance devices.

Infrared transparent graphene heater for silicon photonic integrated circuits.

Thermo-optical tuning of the refractive index is one of the pivotal operations performed in integrated silicon photonic circuits for thermal stabilization, compensation of fabrication tolerances, and implementation of photonic operations. Currently, heaters based on metal wires provide the temperature control in the silicon waveguide. The strong interaction of metal and light, however, necessitates a certain gap between the heater and the photonic structure to avoid significant transmission loss.

Flexible Hall sensors based on graphene.

The excellent electronic and mechanical properties of graphene provide a perfect basis for high performance flexible electronic and sensor devices. Here, we present the fabrication and characterization of flexible graphene based Hall sensors. The Hall sensors are fabricated on 50 μm thick flexible Kapton foil using large scale graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition technique on copper foil.

Experimental verification of electro-refractive phase modulation in graphene.

Graphene has been considered as a promising material for opto-electronic devices, because of its tunable and wideband optical properties. In this work, we demonstrate electro-refractive phase modulation in graphene at wavelengths from 1530 to 1570 nm. By integrating a gated graphene layer in a silicon-waveguide based Mach-Zehnder interferometer, the key parameters of a phase modulator like change in effective refractive index, insertion loss and absorption change are extracted.