Issue 5, 2024

Nanotube ferroelectric tunnel junctions with an ultrahigh tunneling electroresistance ratio

Abstract

Low-dimensional ferroelectric tunnel junctions are appealing for the realization of nanoscale nonvolatile memory devices due to their inherent advantages of device miniaturization. Those based on current mechanisms have limitations, including low tunneling electroresistance (TER) effects and complex heterostructures. Here, we introduce an entirely new TER mechanism to construct a nanotube ferroelectric tunnel junction with ferroelectric nanotubes as the tunneling region. When rolling a ferroelectric monolayer into a nanotube, due to the coexistence of its intrinsic ferroelectric polarization with the flexoelectric polarization induced by bending, a metal–insulator transition occurs depending on the radiative polarization states. For the pristine monolayer, its out-of-plane polarization is tunable by an in-plane electric field, and the conducting states of the ferroelectric nanotube can thus be tuned between metallic and insulating states via axial electric means. Using α-In2Se3 as an example, our first-principles density functional theory calculations and nonequilibrium Green's function formalism confirm the feasibility of the TER mechanism and indicate an ultrahigh TER ratio that exceeds 9.9 × 1010% of the proposed nanotube ferroelectric tunnel junctions. Our findings provide a promising approach based on simple homogeneous structures for high density ferroelectric microelectric devices with excellent ON/OFF performance.

Graphical abstract: Nanotube ferroelectric tunnel junctions with an ultrahigh tunneling electroresistance ratio

  • This article is part of the themed collection: #MyFirstMH

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
25 11月 2023
Accepted
14 12月 2023
First published
04 1月 2024

Mater. Horiz., 2024,11, 1325-1333

Nanotube ferroelectric tunnel junctions with an ultrahigh tunneling electroresistance ratio

J. Wang, Y. Zhao, W. Xu, J. Zheng, Y. Shao, W. Tong and C. Duan, Mater. Horiz., 2024, 11, 1325 DOI: 10.1039/D3MH02006A

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