CAREER: Harnessing Tunable Properties of Black Phosphorus for Novel Electronic Device Application

半导体电子技术在使许多电子系统能够用于从计算机到智能手机的计算和通信应用方面发挥着关键作用。半导体新材料的研究和新电子器件概念的创新是发展下一代计算和通信技术的基础。该计划的研究活动旨在发展基于新兴半导体材料黑磷和相关二维材料的电子技术基础，利用低功耗、可重构和自适应的电子系统，使许多具有变革意义的技术领域受益。该项目将为研究黑磷的基本电子性质和探索在计算和通信中应用的新设备功能开发一个关键的知识库。此外，该计划还将通过向研究生以及本科生和高中生提供与大学研究机构和行业合作者一起的广泛研究机会，为培训半导体行业的下一代劳动力提供宝贵的研究机会。该项目还将加强女性和代表不足的学生对半导体电子研究的参与。科学成果将通过科学界专门用于教育和研究的网站(如NanHUB)传播，与一般科学界分享研究成果，并将其用于教育用途。最近重新发现的黑磷显示出很有希望的电子应用潜力。该材料具有可调的能隙，以及中等带隙(体积为0.3 eV)的强双极导电性，为探索电子应用的新半导体器件概念提供了诱人的特性。另一方面，尽管前景看好，但在将早期黑磷材料科学转化为先进器件技术方面存在重大挑战。黑磷材料独有的新器件概念及其制造技术在很大程度上仍然不发达。基于黑磷的器件的实验演示和设计创新可能导致新的功能，特别是在其操作特性上具有可重新配置的功能，这一点仍然很少见。这项职业计划的目标是揭示黑磷的可调电子特性，如带隙的静电调谐和双极导电，并制造用于电子应用的变革性器件。拟议的研究计划包括以下活动：(1)利用电学和光学表征技术来评估黑磷的带隙调谐和载流子传输特性；(2)设计新的器件概念，利用黑磷的可调特性，如双极导电，以及(3)根据当前最先进的水平对黑磷器件性能进行基准测试，并评估这些器件可以实现的新功能；(4)开发理论器件模型，以预测和指导基本器件物理研究。

The semiconductor electronics technology plays a critical role in enabling many electronic systems for computation and communication applications from computers to smart phones. The study of new semiconductor materials and the innovation of new electronic device concepts are of fundamental importance in developing the future generation computation and communications technology. The research activities in this program aim to develop the foundation of the electronics technology based on the emerging semiconductor material black phosphorus and related two-dimensional materials, which can benefit many transformative technological fields utilizing low power, reconfigurable and adaptive electronic systems. This project will develop a critical knowledge base for the study of the fundamental electronic properties of black phosphorus and the exploration of novel device functionalities for applications in computation and communications. Furthermore, the program will also offer valuable research opportunities for training the next generation workforce for the semiconductor industry by exposing graduate students, as well as undergraduate and high school students, to a wide range of research opportunities with both the university research facilities and the industrial collaborator. This project will also enhance the participation of woman and underrepresented students in semiconductor electronics research. The scientific results will be disseminated through the use of scientific community website dedicated to education and research, such as nanoHUB, to share the research outcomes with the general scientific community and made them available for educational use.Recently rediscovered black phosphorus has shown promising potential for electronic applications. With its tunable energy gap, as well as strong ambipolar conduction resulting from its moderate bandgap (0.3 eV in bulk), the material offers attractive features for exploring new semiconductor device concept for electronics application. On the other hand, despite of promising potentials, major challenges exist on translating early science of black phosphorus materials into advanced device technologies. Novel device concepts unique to black phosphorus materials, as well as their fabrication technology, remain largely under-developed. Experimental demonstrations and design innovations of devices based on black phosphorus that may lead to novel functionalities, especially with re-configurability in its operational characteristics, remain rare. The objective of this CAREER program is to reveal the tunable electronic properties of black phosphorus such as electrostatic tuning of its bandgap and ambipolar conduction, and to build transformative devices for applications in electronics. The proposed research program includes the following activities: (1) utilize electronic and optical characterization techniques to evaluate bandgap tuning and carrier transport properties in black phosphorus, (2) devise novel device concepts, leveraging tunable properties in black phosphorus, such as the ambipolar conduction, and (3) benchmark black phosphorus device performance with the current state-of-the-art, and evaluate the new functionalities these devices can enable, (4) develop theoretical device models to predict and guide basic device physics research.