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

从计算机到智能手机，半导体电子技术在实现许多用于计算和通信的电子系统中起着至关重要的作用。新型半导体材料的研究和新型电子器件概念的创新对发展下一代计算和通信技术具有重要意义。该项目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，这可以使许多利用低功耗，可重构和自适应电子系统的变革性技术领域受益。该项目将为研究黑磷的基本电子特性和探索用于计算和通信的新设备功能开发一个关键的知识库。此外，该项目还将提供宝贵的研究机会，通过让研究生、本科生和高中生接触到大学研究机构和工业合作伙伴的广泛研究机会，为半导体行业培养下一代劳动力。该项目还将促进女性和代表性不足的学生参与半导体电子研究。科学成果将通过诸如nanoHUB等专门用于教育和研究的科学界网站进行传播，以便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在电子应用方面显示出良好的潜力。凭借其可调谐的能隙，以及中等带隙（0.3 eV）产生的强双极传导，该材料为探索用于电子应用的新半导体器件概念提供了有吸引力的特性。另一方面，尽管黑磷材料具有很大的潜力，但在将黑磷材料的早期科学转化为先进的器件技术方面存在重大挑战。黑磷材料独特的新装置概念，以及它们的制造技术，在很大程度上仍然不发达。基于黑磷的设备的实验演示和设计创新可能导致新功能，特别是其操作特性的可重构性，仍然很少。本CAREER计划的目标是揭示黑磷的可调谐电子特性，如其带隙和双极传导的静电调谐，并构建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)利用电子和光学表征技术来评估黑磷的带隙调谐和载流子输运特性；(2)设计新的器件概念，利用黑磷的可调谐特性，如双极传导；(3)用当前最先进的技术基准测试黑磷器件的性能，并评估这些器件可以实现的新功能。(4)建立理论器件模型，预测和指导基础器件物理研究。

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.