Hosang Yoon

Electrophoretic and field-effect graphene for all-electrical DNA array technology.

Field-effect transistor biomolecular sensors based on low-dimensional nanomaterials boast sensitivity, label-free operation and chip-scale construction. Chemical vapour deposition graphene is especially well suited for multiplexed electronic DNA array applications, since its large two-dimensional morphology readily lends itself to top-down fabrication of transistor arrays. Nonetheless, graphene field-effect transistor DNA sensors have been studied mainly at single-device level. Here we create, from chemical vapour deposition graphene, field-effect transistor arrays with two features representing steps towards multiplexed DNA arrays. First, a robust array yield--seven out of eight transistors--is achieved with a 100-fM sensitivity, on par with optical DNA microarrays and at least 10 times higher than prior chemical vapour deposition graphene transistor DNA sensors. Second, each graphene acts as an electrophoretic electrode for site-specific probe DNA immobilization, and performs subsequent site-specific detection of target DNA as a field-effect transistor. The use of graphene as both electrode and transistor suggests a path towards all-electrical multiplexed graphene DNA arrays.

Ultra-subwavelength two-dimensional plasmonic circuits.

We report electronics regime (GHz) two-dimensional (2D) plasmonic circuits, which locally and nonresonantly interface with electronics, and thus offer to electronics the benefits of their ultrasubwavelength confinement, with up to 440,000-fold mode-area reduction. By shaping the geometry of 2D plasmonic media 80 nm beneath an unpatterned metallic gate, plasmons are routed freely into various types of reflections and interferences, leading to a range of plasmonic circuits, e.g., plasmonic crystals and plasmonic-electromagnetic interferometers, offering new avenues for electronics.

Far-Infrared Graphene Plasmonic Crystals for Plasmonic Band Engineering

We introduce far-infrared graphene plasmonic crystals. Periodic structural perturbation-in a proof-of-concept form of hexagonal lattice of apertures-of a continuous graphene medium alters delocalized plasmonic dynamics, creating plasmonic bands in a manner akin to photonic crystals. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy demonstrates band formation, where far-infrared irradiation excites a unique set of plasmonic bands selected by phase matching and symmetry-based selection rules. This band engineering may lead to a new class of graphene plasmonic devices.

A Newtonian approach to extraordinarily strong negative refraction

Metamaterials with negative refractive indices can manipulate electromagnetic waves in unusual ways, and can be used to achieve, for example, sub-diffraction-limit focusing, the bending of light in the ‘wrong’ direction, and reversed Doppler and Cerenkov effects. These counterintuitive and technologically useful behaviours have spurred considerable efforts to synthesize a broad array of negative-index metamaterials with engineered electric, magnetic or optical properties. Here we demonstrate another route to negative refraction by exploiting the inertia of electrons in semiconductor two-dimensional electron gases, collectively accelerated by electromagnetic waves according to Newton’s second law of motion, where this acceleration effect manifests as kinetic inductance. Using kinetic inductance to attain negative refraction was theoretically proposed for three-dimensional metallic nanoparticles and seen experimentally with surface plasmons on the surface of a three-dimensional metal. The two-dimensional electron gas that we use at cryogenic temperatures has a larger kinetic inductance than three-dimensional metals, leading to extraordinarily strong negative refraction at gigahertz frequencies, with an index as large as −700. This pronounced negative refractive index and the corresponding reduction in the effective wavelength opens a path to miniaturization in the science and technology of negative refraction.

Measurement of collective dynamical mass of Dirac fermions in graphene

Individual electrons in graphene behave as massless quasiparticles. Unexpectedly, it is inferred from plasmonic investigations that electrons in graphene must exhibit a non-zero mass when collectively excited. The inertial acceleration of the electron collective mass is essential to explain the behaviour of plasmons in this material, and may be directly measured by accelerating it with a time-varying voltage and quantifying the phase delay of the resulting current. This voltage-current phase relation would manifest as a kinetic inductance, representing the reluctance of the collective mass to accelerate. However, at optical (infrared) frequencies, phase measurements of current are generally difficult, and, at microwave frequencies, the inertial phase delay has been buried under electron scattering. Therefore, to date, the collective mass in graphene has defied unequivocal measurement. Here, we directly and precisely measure the kinetic inductance, and therefore the collective mass, by combining device engineering that reduces electron scattering and sensitive microwave phase measurements. Specifically, the encapsulation of graphene between hexagonal boron nitride layers, one-dimensional edge contacts and a proximate top gate configured as microwave ground together enable the inertial phase delay to be resolved from the electron scattering. Beside its fundamental importance, the kinetic inductance is found to be orders of magnitude larger than the magnetic inductance, which may be utilized to miniaturize radiofrequency integrated circuits. Moreover, its bias dependency heralds a solid-state voltage-controlled inductor to complement the prevalent voltage-controlled capacitor.

Two-path solid-state interferometry using ultra-subwavelength two-dimensional plasmonic waves

We report an on-chip solid-state Mach-Zehnder interferometer operating on two-dimensional (2D) plasmonic waves at microwave frequencies. Two plasmonic paths are defined with GaAs/AlGaAs 2D electron gas 80 nm below a metallic gate. The gated 2D plasmonic waves achieve a velocity of ∼c/300 (c: free-space light speed). Due to this ultra-subwavelength confinement, the resolution of the 2D plasmonic interferometer is two orders of magnitude higher than that of its electromagnetic counterpart at a given frequency. This gigahertz proof-of-concept at cryogenic temperatures can be scaled to the terahertz–infrared range for room temperature operation, while maintaining the benefits of ultra-subwavelength confinement.

Plasmonics with two-dimensional conductors

A wealth of effort in photonics has been dedicated to the study and engineering of surface plasmonic waves in the skin of three-dimensional bulk metals, owing largely to their trait of subwavelength confinement. Plasmonic waves in two-dimensional conductors, such as semiconductor heterojunction and graphene, contrast the surface plasmonic waves on bulk metals, as the former emerge at gigahertz to terahertz and infrared frequencies well below the photonics regime and can exhibit far stronger subwavelength confinement. This review elucidates the machinery behind the unique behaviours of the two-dimensional plasmonic waves and discusses how they can be engineered to create ultra-subwavelength plasmonic circuits and metamaterials for infrared and gigahertz to terahertz integrated electronics.

Real-time device-scale imaging of conducting filament dynamics in resistive switching materials.

ReRAM is a compelling candidate for next-generation non-volatile memory owing to its various advantages. However, fluctuation of operation parameters are critical weakness occurring failures in ‘reading’ and ‘writing’ operations. To enhance the stability, it is important to understand the mechanism of the devices. Although numerous studies have been conducted using AFM or TEM, the understanding of the device operation is still limited due to the destructive nature and/or limited imaging range of the previous methods. Here, we propose a new hybrid device composed of ReRAM and LED enabling us to monitor the conducting filament (CF) configuration on the device scale during resistive switching. We directly observe the change in CF configuration across the whole device area through light emission from our hybrid device. In contrast to former studies, we found that minor CFs were formed earlier than major CF contributing to the resistive switching. Moreover, we investigated the substitution of a stressed major CF with a fresh minor CF when large fluctuation of operation voltage appeared after more than 50 times of resistive switching in atmospheric condition. Our results present an advancement in the understanding of ReRAM operation mechanism, and a step toward stabilizing the fluctuations in ReRAM switching parameters.

Flexible resistive random access memory devices by using NiO x /GaN microdisk arrays fabricated on graphene films

We report flexible resistive random access memory (ReRAM) arrays fabricated by using NiO x /GaN microdisk arrays on graphene films. The ReRAM device was created from discrete GaN microdisk arrays grown on graphene films produced by chemical vapor deposition, followed by deposition of NiO x thin layers and Au metal contacts. The microdisk ReRAM arrays were transferred to flexible plastic substrates by a simple lift-off technique. The electrical and memory characteristics of the ReRAM devices were investigated under bending conditions. Resistive switching characteristics, including cumulative probability, endurance, and retention, were measured. After 1000 bending repetitions, no significant change in the device characteristics was observed. The flexible ReRAM devices, constructed by using only inorganic materials, operated reliably at temperatures as high as 180 °C.

ZnO nanolasers on graphene films

We grew and characterized zinc oxide (ZnO) nanolasers on graphene films. By using graphene as a growth medium, we were able to prepare position-controlled and vertically aligned ZnO nanotube lasers. The ZnO nanolasers grown on graphene films showed good optical characteristics, evidenced by a low lasing threshold. Furthermore, the nanolaser/graphene system was easily lifted off the original substrate and transferred onto foreign substrates. The lasing performance was observed to be significantly enhanced by depositing a layer of silver on the back of the graphene film during this transfer process, which was quantitatively investigated using finite-difference time-domain simulations. Due to the wide selection of substrates enabled by the use of graphene films, our results suggest promising strategies for preparing practical nanolasers with improved performance.