CAREER: Transforming Electronic Devices Using Two-dimensional Materials and Ferroelectric Metal Oxides

摘要：非技术描述：下一代信息技术正在推动对节能电子设备的追求，以节能和经济的方式实时处理前所未有的大量数据。在这个项目中，首席研究员（PI）计划创建和评估基于新的混合材料平台的新型节能电子设备，该平台由二维（2D）材料（单/双硫族化合物和石墨烯）和铁电金属氧化物（掺杂铪和氧化锆）组成。铁电金属氧化物在二维材料中提供了可编程和非挥发性的掺杂，而二维材料中的原子薄体使铁电金属氧化物能够对通道进行强静电控制。以往对二维/铁电杂化材料的研究大多集中在传统的钙钛矿铁电材料上。本课题将首次对新发现的铁电氧化铪和氧化锆进行二维材料的系统研究，该材料具有优异的可扩展性、高矫顽力场和与互补金属氧化物半导体（CMOS）技术完全兼容的优点。PI的团队将研究这种新型混合材料平台的合成，并基于这些材料创建超低功耗逻辑、存储器和模拟设备。基于这些材料的低功耗逻辑和存储设备对于移动设备、医疗植入设备、可穿戴电子设备和大型数据中心至关重要。基于这些材料的模拟分类器将实现高速低功耗信号处理和图像识别系统。这些低功耗2D铁电器件与高速硅电路的3D集成将产生下一代高度并行和超低功耗系统，以支持物联网和社交媒体等“大数据”应用。PI将通过创建一个新的二维材料研究生/本科生课程来整合研究和教学，以培养纳米电子学的下一代劳动力。为了从小培养尊重和接受科学技术事业的年轻心灵，PI将开展包括新的“小爱因斯坦”科学教育计划在内的多项外展活动。此外，为了提高理工科女生的入学率，还将设立以中学女生为对象的“Girls Go Tech”项目。技术描述：本研究旨在为基于二维/铁电金属氧化物杂化材料平台的纳米电子学的新研究方向奠定基础。PI团队将合成和表征2D/铁电金属氧化物堆叠，以2D材料作为衬底/封盖层，寻求对金属氧化物中铁电相变的基本理解。该团队还将利用这些材料来制造节能的逻辑、存储器和模拟设备。具体而言，该团队将创建和评估新型二维铁电隧道场效应晶体管（2D fe - tfet），以作为超低功耗逻辑；将研究2D铁电氧化铪晶体管（2D FHOT），以实现高能效、可扩展和耐用的铁电随机存取存储器（FRAM）；将创造嵌入式栅极石墨烯铁电晶体管（EGGFTs），以实现高能效、极其紧凑和非易失性的模拟分类器。然后将这些器件逐层堆叠以实现3D单片集成。本研究将阐明器件的物理性质，并评估这些器件在未来半导体技术中的潜力。由此产生的三维集成系统将为新的电路和架构设计提供硬件基础。这项研究具有潜在的变革性，因为它可能开启节能设备、电路和架构的新研究和开发路线，并具有广泛的新兴应用，从可穿戴电子产品和植入式医疗设备到数据中心。

Abstract:Nontechnical description: Next generation information technology is driving the quest for energy efficient electronic devices to process unprecedented amounts of data in real time and in an energy- and cost-efficient manner. In this program, the principle investigator (PI) is planning to create and evaluate novel energy efficient electronic devices based on a new hybrid material platform consisting of two-dimensional (2D) materials (mono-/di-chalcogenides and graphene) and ferroelectric metal oxides (doped hafnium and zirconium oxides). The ferroelectric metal oxides provide programmable and non-volatile doping in 2D materials, while the atomically thin bodies in 2D materials enable strong electrostatic control over the channel by the ferroelectric metal oxides. Most previous research on 2D/ferroelectric hybrid materials has focused on traditional perovskite ferroelectric materials. This proposed work will undertake the first systematic study of 2D materials on newly discovered ferroelectric hafnium and zirconium oxides, which have the advantages of excellent scalability, high coercive field, and full compatibility with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The PI's team will investigate the synthesis of this new hybrid material platform and create ultra-low power logic, memory, and analog devices based on these materials. The low power logic and memory devices based on these materials will be essential for mobile devices, medical implantable devices, wearable electronics, and large data centers. Analog classifiers based on these materials will enable high speed and low power signal processing and image recognition systems. 3D integration of these low power 2D ferroelectric devices with high speed silicon circuits will result in next-generation highly parallel and ultra-low power systems to support "Big Data" applications such as the Internet of Things and social media. The PI will integrate research and teaching by creating a new graduate/undergraduate course on 2D materials to train the next generation workforce in nanoelectronics. The PI will establish several outreach activities including a new "Little Einstein" science education program for elementary students to cultivate young minds at an early age to respect and embrace a career in science and technology. The PI will also establish a "Girls Go Tech" program for middle school girls to promote enrollment of female students in science and engineering programs.Technical description:The objective of the proposed research is to establish the foundation for a new research direction: nanoelectronics based on 2D/ferroelectric metal oxides hybrid material platform. The PI's team will synthesize and characterize 2D/ferroelectric metal oxide stacks, seeking fundamental understanding of the ferroelectric phase transition in metal oxides with 2D materials as substrate/capping layers. The team will also utilize these materials to create energy efficient logic, memory, and analog devices. Specifically, the team will create and evaluate novel 2D ferroelectric tunneling field effect transistors (2D Fe-TFETs) to serve as ultra-low power logic; will investigate 2D ferroelectric hafnium oxide transistors (2D FHOT) to implement highly energy efficient, scalable, and durable ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM); will create embedded-gate graphene ferroelectric transistors (EGGFTs) to realize highly energy-efficient, extremely compact, and non-volatile analog classifiers. These devices will then be stacked layer-by-layer to realize 3D monolithic integration. This research will elucidate the device physics and evaluate the potential of these devices for future semiconductor technology. The resulting 3D integrated system will provide the hardware foundation for new circuit and architecture designs. This research is potentially transformative as it may unlock new lines of research and development in energy efficient devices, circuits, and architectures with a broad range of emerging applications from wearable electronics and implantable medical devices to data centers.