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Control of photocurrent and multi-state memory by polar order engineering in 2H-stacked α-In2Se3 ferroelectric

2H α-In2Se3铁电体中极序工程控制的光电流和多态存储器

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Abstract

Controlling the polar order in ferroelectric materials may enrich the diversity of their property and functionality, offering new opportunities for the design of novel electronic and optoelectronic devices. In this paper, we report a planar multi-state memory device built upon a two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals layered ferroelectric material, 2H α-In2Se3. Three (high, median and low) resistance states are demonstrated to be interconvertible in this device with a fast switching speed, excellent endurance and retention performances via the modulation of the polar order of the ferroelectric α-In2Se3 layers under an in-plane electric field. Remarkably, reversible switching between the median-resistance state and the low-resistance state can be achieved by an ultralow electric field of 1–2 orders of magnitude smaller than the reported values in other 2D ferroelectric material-based memory devices. Furthermore, the three different polar order states are discovered to exhibit distinctive photo-responses. These results demonstrate great potentials of α-In2Se3 in nonvolatile high-density memory and advanced optoelectronic device applications.

摘要

控制铁电材料的极序可以丰富其特性和功能的多样性, 为设计新型电子和光电子器件提供新的机会. 本文报道了一种基于二维(2D) 范德瓦尔斯(vdW)层状铁电材料2H α-In2Se3的面内多态存储器件. 通过施加面内电场调控铁电α-In2Se3层的极序, 实现了可以相互切换的三种电阻态, 其具有快的切换速度、 良好的耐久性和保持性. 值得注意的是, 中间阻态(MRS)和低阻态(LRS)之间可以通过比其他基于2D铁电材料的存储器小1–2个数量级的超低电场来实现可逆切换. 此外, 还发现这三种不同的极序态表现出了特有的光响应. 以上结果表明, α-In2Se3在非易失性高密度存储器和新型光电器件中具有很大的应用潜力.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12174237, 61904099, 52002232 and 51871137), and the Graduate Science and Technology Innovation Project of Shanxi Normal University (01053013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Magnetic Molecules and Magnetic Information Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen, 041004, China

    Baohua Lv  (吕宝华), Wuhong Xue  (薛武红), Zhi Yan  (严志), Ruilong Yang  (杨瑞龙), Hao Wu  (吴昊), Peng Wang  (王鹏), Yuying Zhang  (张钰樱), Jiani Hou  (候佳妮) & Xiaohong Xu  (许小红)

  2. Department of Applied Chemistry, Yuncheng University, Yuncheng, 044000, China

    Baohua Lv  (吕宝华)

  3. International Center for Quantum Design of Functional Materials (ICQD), Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Wenguang Zhu  (朱文光)

  4. Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Wenguang Zhu  (朱文光)

Authors
  1. Baohua Lv  (吕宝华)
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  2. Wuhong Xue  (薛武红)
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  3. Zhi Yan  (严志)
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  4. Ruilong Yang  (杨瑞龙)
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  5. Hao Wu  (吴昊)
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  6. Peng Wang  (王鹏)
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  9. Wenguang Zhu  (朱文光)
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  10. Xiaohong Xu  (许小红)
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Contributions

Author contributions Lv B, Xue W and Xu X conceived and designed the research; Lv B prepared and characterized the samples. Lv B prepared the devices; Yan Z and Yang R helped analyze the results; Zhu W contributed to the theoretical analysis. Lv B, Xue W, and Xu X co-wrote the manuscript. All the authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Wuhong Xue  (薛武红) or Xiaohong Xu  (许小红).

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Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Supplementary information Supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.

Baohua Lv received his MSc degree from Shanxi Normal University in 2007. He is now a PhD candidate under the supervision of Prof. Xiaohong Xu at the Research Institute of Materials Science, Shanxi Normal University. His current research interest focuses on the preparation of two-dimensional materials and investigations on their ferroelectric properties.

Wuhong Xue is currently an associate professor at Shanxi Normal University. She received her PhD degree from Shanxi Normal University & Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2018. Her current research interests are mainly the controllable preparation of large-area two-dimensional ferroelectric and ferromagnetic materials for information storage and processing in the post Moore era.

Xiaohong Xu received her PhD degree in materials science and engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University, China in 2001. From 2001 to 2006, she worked at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, the University of Sheffield, UK, and Tohoku University, Japan as a postdoc or research fellow. Her research interest includes oxide semiconductor spintronics, magnetic recording media and interface physics of heterostructures. She is a Distinguished Young Scholar awarded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

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Lv, B., Xue, W., Yan, Z. et al. Control of photocurrent and multi-state memory by polar order engineering in 2H-stacked α-In2Se3 ferroelectric. Sci. China Mater. 65, 1639–1645 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-021-1920-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-021-1920-9

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