Mingqiang Bao

High speed graphene transistors with a self-aligned nanowire gate

Graphene has attracted considerable interest as a potential new electronic material. With its high carrier mobility, graphene is of particular interest for ultrahigh-speed radio-frequency electronics. However, conventional device fabrication processes cannot readily be applied to produce high-speed graphene transistors because they often introduce significant defects into the monolayer of carbon lattices and severely degrade the device performance. Here we report an approach to the fabrication of high-speed graphene transistors with a self-aligned nanowire gate to prevent such degradation. A Co2Si–Al2O3 core–shell nanowire is used as the gate, with the source and drain electrodes defined through a self-alignment process and the channel length defined by the nanowire diameter. The physical assembly of the nanowire gate preserves the high carrier mobility in graphene, and the self-alignment process ensures that the edges of the source, drain and gate electrodes are automatically and precisely positioned so that no overlapping or significant gaps exist between these electrodes, thus minimizing access resistance. It therefore allows for transistor performance not previously possible. Graphene transistors with a channel length as low as 140 nm have been fabricated with the highest scaled on-current (3.32 mA μm−1) and transconductance (1.27 mS μm−1) reported so far. Significantly, on-chip microwave measurements demonstrate that the self-aligned devices have a high intrinsic cut-off (transit) frequency of fT = 100–300 GHz, with the extrinsic fT (in the range of a few gigahertz) largely limited by parasitic pad capacitance. The reported intrinsic fT of the graphene transistors is comparable to that of the very best high-electron-mobility transistors with similar gate lengths.

Magnonic logic circuits

We describe and analyse possible approaches to magnonic logic circuits and basic elements required for circuit construction. A distinctive feature of the magnonic circuitry is that information is transmitted by spin waves propagating in the magnetic waveguides without the use of electric current. The latter makes it possible to exploit spin wave phenomena for more efficient data transfer and enhanced logic functionality. We describe possible schemes for general computing and special task data processing. The functional throughput of the magnonic logic gates is estimated and compared with the conventional transistor-based approach. Magnonic logic circuits allow scaling down to the deep submicrometre range and THz frequency operation. The scaling is in favour of the magnonic circuits offering a significant functional advantage over the traditional approach. The disadvantages and problems of the spin wave devices are also discussed.

Spin Wave Magnetic NanoFabric: A New Approach to Spin-Based Logic Circuitry

We describe a magnetic nanofabric, which may provide a route to building reconfigurable spin-based logic circuits compatible with conventional electron-based devices. A distinctive feature of magnetic nanofabric is that a bit of information is encoded into the phase of the spin wave signal. This makes it possible to transmit information without the use of electric current and to utilize wave interference for useful logic functionality. The basic elements include voltage-to-spin-wave and wave-to-voltage converters, spin waveguides, a spin wave modulator, and a magnetoelectric cell. We illustrate the performance of the basic elements by experimental data and the results of numerical modeling. The combination of the basic elements leads us to construct magnetic circuits for NOT and majority logic gates. Logic gates such as AND, OR, NAND, and NOR are shown as the combination of NOT and reconfigurable majority gates. Examples of computational architectures such as a multibit processor and a cellular nonlinear network are described. The main advantage of the proposed magnetic nanofabric is its ability to realize logic gates with fewer devices than in CMOS-based circuits. Potentially, the area of the elementary reconfigurable majority gate can be scaled down to 0.1 mum2. We also discuss the disadvantages and limitations of the magnetic nanofabric.

Electric-field-induced spin wave generation using multiferroic magnetoelectric cells

In this work, we report on the demonstration of voltage-driven spin wave excitation, where spin waves are generated by multiferroic magnetoelectric (ME) cell transducers driven by an alternating voltage, rather than an electric current. A multiferroic element consisting of a magnetostrictive Ni film and a piezoelectric [Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3](1−x)–[PbTiO3]x substrate was used for this purpose. By applying an AC voltage to the piezoelectric, an oscillating electric field is created within the piezoelectric material, which results in an alternating strain-induced magnetic anisotropy in the magnetostrictive Ni layer. The resulting anisotropy-driven magnetization oscillations propagate in the form of spin waves along a 5 μm wide Ni/NiFe waveguide. Control experiments confirm the strain-mediated origin of the spin wave excitation. The voltage-driven spin wave excitation, demonstrated in this work, can potentially be used for low-dissipation spin wave-based logic and memory elements.

Domain engineered switchable strain states in ferroelectric (011) [Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3](1−x)-[PbTiO3]x (PMN-PT, x≈0.32) single crystals

The ferroelectric properties of (011) [Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3](1−x)-[PbTiO3]x (PMN-PT, x≈0.32) single crystals with focus on piezoelectric strain response were reported. Two giant reversible and stable remanent strain states and tunable remanent strain properties are achieved by properly reversing the electric field from the depolarized direction. The unique piezoelectric strain response, especially along the [100] direction, mainly stems from the non-180° ferroelectric polarization reorientation in the rhombohedral phase crystal structure. Such giant strain hysteresis with tunable remanent strain properties may be useful for magnetoelectric based memory devices as well as a potential candidate for other applications.

Radio frequency and linearity performance of transistors using high-purity semiconducting carbon nanotubes.

This paper reports the radio frequency (RF) and linearity performance of transistors using high-purity semiconducting carbon nanotubes. High-density, uniform semiconducting nanotube networks are deposited at wafer scale using our APTES-assisted nanotube deposition technique, and RF transistors with channel lengths down to 500 nm are fabricated. We report on transistors exhibiting a cutoff frequency (f(t)) of 5 GHz and with maximum oscillation frequency (f(max)) of 1.5 GHz. Besides the cutoff frequency, the other important figure of merit for the RF transistors is the device linearity. For the first time, we report carbon nanotube RF transistor linearity metrics up to 1 GHz. Without the use of active probes to provide the high impedance termination, the measurement bandwidth is therefore not limited, and the linearity measurements can be conducted at the frequencies where the transistors are intended to be operating. We conclude that semiconducting nanotube-based transistors are potentially promising building blocks for highly linear RF electronics and circuit applications.

Giant random telegraph signals in the carbon nanotubes as a single defect probe

Giant random telegraph signals (RTSs) are observed in p-type semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) field-effect transistors (FETs). The RTSs are attributed to the trapping and detrapping of the two defects inside SiO2 or in the interface between SWNT and SiO2. The amplitude of the RTSs is up to 60% of total current. The giant switching amplitude of RTSs is believed to be caused by the strong mobility modulation originated from the charging of the defects in the one-dimensional carbon nanotube channels with an ultrasmall channel width on the order of 1–3 nm. The potential application of RTSs in SWNT as a sensitive probe to study single defects is discussed.

Feasibility study of logic circuits with a spin wave bus.

We present a feasibility study of logic circuits utilizing spin waves for information transmission and processing. As an alternative approach to the transistor-based architecture, logic circuits with a spin wave bus do not use charge as an information carrier. In this work we describe the general concept of logic circuits with a spin wave bus and illustrate its performance by numerical simulations based on available experimental data. Theoretical estimates and results of numerical simulations on signal attenuation, signal phase velocity, and the minimum spin wave energy required per bit in the spin bus are obtained. The transport parameters are compared with ones for conventional electronic transmission lines. The spin wave bus is not intended to substitute traditional metal interconnects since it has higher signal attenuation and lower signal propagation speed. The potential value of a spin wave bus is, however, an interface between electronic circuits and integrated spintronics circuits. The logic circuits with a spin wave bus allow us to provide wireless read-in and read-out.

One-dimensional transport of In2O3 nanowires

The gate-dependent one-dimensional transport of single-crystal In2O3 nanowire field effect transistors is studied at low temperature by measuring current (I-V) and differential conductance (dIds∕dVds). At a smaller positive gate bias, gaps at near-zero source-drain bias were observed for both current and differential conductance spectra due to the absence of the density of states in the source-drain energy window for a small Vds. The transport can be explained using conventional low-temperature field effect transistor theory. On the other hand, at a large gate bias when the Fermi energy of the nanowire moves up into its conduction band, the differential conductance of the semiconducting In2O3 nanowire exhibits zero-bias anomalies, following a power-law behavior.

Magneto-electric tuning of the phase of propagating spin waves

The utilization of a magnetoelectric film composite to control, by an electric field, the phase of magnetostatic surface spin waves propagating along thin films is reported. Laminates of ferromagnetic films of Ni and NiFe are deposited on a ferroelectric substrate, lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate. The phase of propagating spinwaves is shown to be modulated by an electric field while traveling a finite distance along the surface. The observed phase change in the spinwaves is in agreement with the anisotropy field changes measured with magneto optical Kerr effect hysteresis loops. A quantitative agreement is demonstrated.