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At least 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Spin Solar Cell Phenomenon on a Single-Molecule Magnet (SMM) Impacted CoFeB-Based Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

The single-molecule magnet (SMM) is demonstrated here to transform conventional magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), a memory device used in present-day computers, into solar cells. For the first time, we demonstrated an electronic spin-dependent solar cell effect on an SMM-transformed MTJ under illumination from unpolarized white light. We patterned cross-junction-shaped devices to form a CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB-based MTJ. The MgO barrier thickness at the intersection between the two exposed junction edges was less than the SMM extent, which enabled the SMM molecules to serve as channels to conduct spin-dependent transport. The SMM channels yielded a region of long-range magnetic ordering around these engineered molecular junctions. Our SMM possessed a hexanuclear [Mn 6 (μ 3 -O) 2 (H 2 N-sao) 6 (6-atha) 2 (EtOH) 6 ] [H 2 N-saoH = salicylamidoxime, 6-atha = 6-acetylthiohexanoate] complex and thioesters end groups to form bonds with metal films. SMM-doped MTJs were shown to exhibit a solar cell effect and yielded ≈80 mV open-circuit voltage and ≈10 mA/cm 2 saturation current density under illumination from one sun equivalent radiation dose. A room-temperature Kelvin Probe AFM (KPAFM) study provided direct evidence that the SMM transformed the electronic properties of the MTJ’s electrodes over a lateral area in excess of several thousand times larger in extent than the area spanned by the molecular junctions themselves. As a result, the decisive factor in observing this spin-photovoltaic effect is the formation of SMM spin channels between the two different ferromagnetic electrodes, which in turn is able to catalyze the long-range transformation in each electrode around the junction area.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

All-MOCVD-grown gallium nitride diodes with ultra-low resistance tunnel junctions

In this work, we carefully investigate three important effects including postgrowth activation annealing, delta (δ) dose and magnesium (Mg) buildup delay as well as experimentally demonstrate their influence on the electrical properties of GaN homojunction p–n diodes with a tunnel junction (TJ). The diodes were monolithically grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) in a single growth step. By optimizing the annealing parameters for Mg activation, δ-dose for both donors and acceptors at TJ interfaces, and p + -GaN layer thickness, a significant improvement in tunneling properties is achieved. For the TJs embedded within the continuously-grown, all-MOCVD GaN diode structures, ultra-low voltage penalties of 158 mV and 490 mV are obtained at current densities of 20 A cm –2 and 100 A cm –2 , respectively. The diodes with the engineered TJs show a record-low differential resistivity of 1.6 × 10 –4 Ω cm 2 at 5 kA cm –2 .

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Impact of direct exchange coupling via the insulator on the magnetic tunnel junction based molecular spintronics devices with competing molecule induced inter-electrode coupling

The magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) based molecular spintronics device (MTJMSD) approach is suitable for mass production. This approach provides solutions to fabrication difficulties related to reliably connecting molecular device elements to the ferromagnets (FMs). To producing MTJMSD, the molecular channels are bridged across the insulator of an MTJ testbed with exposed side edges. In an MTJMSD, two FMs are simultaneously connected by an insulator film and the molecular channels along the exposed sides. In our prior experimental studies, we observed that molecules could produce strong coupling between ferromagnets in the presence of the competing coupling via an insulator. In this paper, our Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) was used to study the impact of coupling variation via insulator (a.k.a. Ji) on the magnetic properties of an MTJMSD. We studied the effect of Ji while varying the molecule induced antiferromagnetic exchange coupling. The ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic nature and magnitude of Ji determined the resultant effect. Antiferromagnetic Ji enhanced the pre-existing antiferromagnetic molecular coupling effect. Ferromagnetic Ji competed with the opposite nature of antiferromagnetic molecular coupling. Our MCS may help to understand the impact of insulator thickness and defects on the molecular spintronics device performance and design process.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Method and apparatus for evaluating superconducting tunnel junction detector noise versus bias voltage

A technique for characterizing the noise behavior of a superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) detector as a function of its applied bias voltage Vb by stepping the STJ's bias voltage across a predetermined range and, at each applied bias, making multiple measurements of the detector's current, calculating their mean and their standard deviation from their mean, and using this standard deviation as a measure of the STJ detector's noise at that applied bias. Because the method is readily executed under computer control, it is particularly useful when large numbers of STJ detectors require biasing, as in STJ detector arrays In a preferred implementation, the STJ is measured under computer control by attaching it to a digital spectrometer comprising a digital x-ray processor (DXP) coupled to a preamplifier that can set the STJ's bias voltage Vb using a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) controlled by the DXP.

Warburton, William K.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Design Space Exploration of Ferroelectric Tunnel Junction Toward Crossbar Memories

We perform a simulation-based analysis on the potential of emerging ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs) as a memory device for crossbar arrays. Though FTJs are promising due to their low power switching characteristics compared to other emerging technologies, the greatest challenge for FTJs is the tradeoff between integration density and read performance. Our analysis highlights the need to co-optimize the ferroelectric thickness of the FTJ and read/write voltages to achieve proper functionality at large array sizes. Our analysis shows that FTJ-based crossbar achieves 93% higher sense margin at isoread power of 116 nW (per bit), but this FTJ design comes at a cost of 9.28× higher write power at isowrite time of 250 ns. In response, we study the potential tradeoffs of design points outside the feasible region to understand what device characteristics are desired to overcome such challenges.

Jao, Nicholas↗
DOE OSTI2022

Implementation of a Binary Neural Network on a Passive Array of Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

The increasing scale of neural networks and their growing application space have produced demand for more energy- and memory-efficient artificial-intelligence-specific hardware. Avenues to mitigate the main issue, the von Neumann bottleneck, include in-memory and near-memory architectures, as well as algorithmic approaches. In this report we leverage the low-power and the inherently binary operation of magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) to demonstrate neural network hardware inference based on passive arrays of MTJs. In general, transferring a trained network model to hardware for inference is confronted by degradation in performance due to device-to-device variations, write errors, parasitic resistance, and nonidealities in the substrate. To quantify the effect of these hardware realities, we benchmark 300 unique weight matrix solutions of a two-layer perceptron to classify the Wine dataset for both classification accuracy and write fidelity. Despite device imperfections, we achieve software-equivalent accuracy of up to 95.3% with proper tuning of network parameters in 15 x 15 MTJ arrays having a range of device sizes. The success of this tuning process shows that new metrics are needed to characterize the performance and quality of networks reproduced in mixed signal hardware.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

Nonvolatile Magnetoelectric Switching of Magnetic Tunnel Junctions with Dipole Interaction

The magnetoelectric effect is technologically appealing because of its ability to manipulate magnetism using an electric field rather than magnetic field or current, thus providing a promising solution for the development of energy-efficient spintronics. Although 180° magnetization switching is vital to spintronic devices, the achievement of 180° magnetization switching via magnetoelectric coupling is still a fundamental challenge. Here, in this work, voltage-driven full resistance switching of a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) with dipole interaction on a ferroelectric substrate through switchable parallel/antiparallel magnetization alignment is demonstrated. Parallel magnetization alignment along the y direction is obtained under a bias magnetic field. By rotating the magnetic easy axis via strain-mediated magnetoelectric coupling, the parallel magnetizations in the MTJ reorient to the x axis with opposite paths because of dipole interaction, thus resulting in antiparallel alignment. Moreover, this voltage switching of MTJs is nonvolatile owing to variations in dipole interaction and can be well understood via phase field simulations. The results provide an avenue to realize electrical switching of MTJs and are significant for exploring energy-efficient spintronic devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

A domain wall-magnetic tunnel junction artificial synapse with notched geometry for accurate and efficient training of deep neural networks

Inspired by the parallelism and efficiency of the brain, several candidates for artificial synapse devices have been developed for neuromorphic computing, yet a nonlinear and asymmetric synaptic response curve precludes their use for backpropagation, the foundation of modern supervised learning. Spintronic devices—which benefit from high endurance, low power consumption, low latency, and CMOS compatibility—are a promising technology for memory, and domain-wall magnetic tunnel junction (DW-MTJ) devices have been shown to implement synaptic functions such as long-term potentiation and spike-timing dependent plasticity. In this work, we propose a notched DW-MTJ synapse as a candidate for supervised learning. Using micromagnetic simulations at room temperature, we show that notched synapses ensure the non-volatility of the synaptic weight and allow for highly linear, symmetric, and reproducible weight updates using either spin transfer torque (STT) or spin–orbit torque (SOT) mechanisms of DW propagation. We use lookup tables constructed from micromagnetics simulations to model the training of neural networks built with DW-MTJ synapses on both the MNIST and Fashion-MNIST image classification tasks. Accounting for thermal noise and realistic process variations, the DW-MTJ devices achieve classification accuracy close to ideal floating-point updates using both STT and SOT devices at room temperature and at 400 K. Our work establishes the basis for a magnetic artificial synapse that can eventually lead to hardware neural networks with fully spintronic matrix operations implementing machine learning.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Controlled Hysteresis of Conductance in Molecular Tunneling Junctions

The problem this paper addresses is the origin of the hysteretic behavior in two-terminal molecular junctions made from an EGaIn electrode and self-assembled monolayers of alkanethiolates terminated in chelates (transition metal dichlorides complexed with 2,2'-bipyridine; BIPY-MCl 2 ). The hysteresis of conductance displayed by these BIPY-MCl 2 junctions changes in magnitude depending on the identity of the metal ion (M) and the window of the applied voltage across the junction. The hysteretic behavior of conductance in these junctions appears only in an incoherent (Fowler–Nordheim) tunneling regime. When the complexed metal ion is Mn(II), Fe(II), Co(II), or Ni(II), both incoherent tunneling and hysteresis are observed for a voltage range between +1.0 V and –1.0 V. When the metal ion is Cr(II) or Cu(II), however, only resonant (one-step) tunneling is observed, and the junctions exhibit no hysteresis and do not enter the incoherent tunneling regime. Using this correlation, the conductance characteristics of BIPY-MCl 2 junctions can be controlled. Furthermore, this voltage-induced change of conductance demonstrates a simple, fast, and reversible way (i.e., by changing the applied voltage) to modulate conductance in molecular tunneling junctions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Direct fabrication and characterization of vertically stacked Graphene/h-BN/Graphene tunnel junctions

We have used a lithography free technique for the direct fabrication of vertically stacked two-dimensional (2D) material-based tunnel junctions and characterized by Raman, AFM, XPS. We fabricated Graphene/h-BN/Graphene devices by direct deposition of graphene (bottom layer), h-BN (insulating barrier) and graphene (top layer) sequentially using a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition on Si/SiO 2 substrates. The thickness of the h-BN insulating layer was varied by tuning the plasma power and the deposition time. Samples were characterized by Raman, AFM, and XPS. The I-V data follows the barrier thickness dependent quantum tunneling behavior for equally doped graphene layers. The resonant tunneling behavior was observed at room temperature for oppositely doped graphene layers where hydrazine and ammonia were used for n-doping of one of the graphene layers. The resonance with negative differential conductance occurs when the band structures of the two electrodes are aligned. The doping effect of the resonant peak is observed for varying doping levels. The results are explained according to the Bardeen tunneling model.

2D-materials↗
DOE OSTI2024

Alternating-bias assisted annealing of amorphous oxide tunnel junctions

Superconducting quantum bits (qubits) rely on ultra-thin, amorphous oxide tunneling barriers that can have significant inhomogeneities and defects as grown. This can result in relatively large uncertainties and deleterious effects in the circuits, limiting the scalability. Finding a robust solution to the junction reproducibility problem has been a long-standing goal in the field. Here, we demonstrate a transformational technique for controllably tuning the electrical properties of aluminum-oxide tunnel junctions. This is accomplished using a low-voltage, alternating-bias applied individually to the tunnel junctions, with which resistance tuning by more than 70% can be achieved. The data indicates an improvement of coherence and reduction of two-level system defects. Transmission electron microscopy shows that the treated junctions are predominantly amorphous, albeit with a more uniform distribution of alumina coordination across the barrier. This technique is expected to be useful for other devices based on ionic amorphous materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Improved wall-plug efficiency of III-nitride tunnel junction micro-light-emitting diodes with AlGaN/GaN polarization charges

The electrical performances of III-nitride blue micro-light-emitting diodes (µLEDs) with different tunnel junction (TJ) epitaxial architectures grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition are investigated. A new TJ structure that employs AlGaN is introduced. The current density–voltage characteristic is improved by incorporating AlGaN layer above the n-side of the TJ layer, and the effects of the AlGaN/GaN superlattices is examined. Based upon the data from band diagram simulation, net positive polarization charge is formed at the AlGaN/GaN interface, which results in a reduction in tunneling distance and increase in tunneling probability. Moreover, similar electrical improvement is observed in various device dimensions and is independent of operating current density, suggesting that AlGaN/GaN biaxial tensile strain or current spreading is not the main contribution for the improvement. Finally, the effects on the efficiency performances are determined. While the maximum external quantum efficiency of the TJ devices remains identical, the wall-plug efficiency of µLEDs is enhanced significantly by the proposed AlGaN-enhanced TJ design. This work reveals the possibility of energy efficient TJ contact with high transparency in the visible wavelength range.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Monte Carlo simulation to study the effect of molecular spin state on the spatio-temporal evolution of equilibrium magnetic properties of magnetic tunnel junction based molecular spintronics devices

With a variable spin state, paramagnetic molecules can affect the impact of magnetic exchange coupling strength between two ferromagnetic electrodes. Our magnetic tunnel junction based molecular spintronics devices (MTJMSD) were successful in connecting paramagnetic single molecular magnet (SMM) between two ferromagnetic electrodes. Isolated SMM exhibited a wide range of spin states. However, it was extremely challenging to identify the SMM spin state when connected to the ferromagnetic electrodes. Our prior experimental and Monte Carlo Simulations (MCS) studies showed that paramagnetic molecules produced unprecedented strong antiferromagnetic coupling between two ferromagnets at room temperature. The overall antiferromagnetic coupling occurred when a paramagnetic SMM made antiferromagnetic coupling to the first electrode and ferromagnetic coupling to the second ferromagnetic electrode. This paper studies the impact of variable molecular spin states of the SMMs, producing strong antiferromagnetic coupling between the ferromagnetic electrodes of MTJMSD. The MTJMSD used in this study was represented by an 11 x 50 x 50 Ising model, with 11 being the thickness of the MTJMSD and 5 x 10 x 50 being each electrode’s size. We employed a continuous MCS algorithm to investigate SMM’s spin state’s impact as a function of molecular exchange coupling strength and thermal energy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Metamorphic Tunnel Junctions Grown Via MOCVD Designed for GaAs 0.75 P 0.25 /Si Tandem Solar Cells

A high-performance metamorphic Al 0.2 Ga 0.8 As 0.75 P 0.25 /GaAs 0.75 P 0.25 heterojunction tunnel junction structure was developed for application to monolithic epitaxial GaAs 0.75 P 0.25 /Si 1.7 eV/1.1 eV bandgap tandem solar cells produced via metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. Doping optimization focused on both bulk doping concentrations and mitigating the transient incorporation effects that otherwise causes non-abrupt doping profiles in the Te doped layer. Furthermore, these efforts resulted in a fully-relaxed metamorphic tunnel diode at the target lattice constant having a peak tunneling current density (JP) of 279.1 A·cm –2 and a zero-bias resistance area product (RA) of 3.0×10 –4 Ω·cm 2 . After post-growth annealing to emulate the thermal load of the GaAs 0.75 P 0.25 top cell growth and elimination of the performance enhancing carbon activation anneal, the device achieved JP = 13.1 A·cm –2 and RA = 1.5×10 –3 Ω·cm 2 . These worst-case values are very promising as they enable the operation of GaAs 0.75 P 0.25 /Si tandems under one-sun AM1.5G illumination with negligible series resistance and at AM1.5D concentrations up to 240 suns with only 0.1% absolute efficiency loss.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Aluminum-Based Superconducting Tunnel Junction Sensors for Nuclear Recoil Spectroscopy

The BeEST experiment is searching for sub-MeV sterile neutrinos by measuring nuclear recoil energies from the decay of 7 Be implanted into superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) sensors. The recoil spectra are affected by interactions between the radioactive implants and the sensor materials. We are therefore developing aluminum-based STJs (Al-STJs) as an alternative to existing tantalum devices (Ta-STJs) to investigate how to separate material effects in the recoil spectrum from potential signatures of physics beyond the Standard Model. Three iterations of Al-STJs were fabricated. The first had electrode thicknesses similar to existing Ta-STJs. They had low responsivity and reduced resolution, but were used successfully to measure 7 Be nuclear recoil spectra. The second iteration had STJs suspended on thin SiN membranes by backside etching. These devices had low leakage current, but also low yield. The final iteration was not backside etched, and the Al-STJs had thinner electrodes and thinner tunnel barriers to increase signal amplitudes. These devices achieved 2.96 eV FWHM energy resolution at 50 eV using a pulsed 355 nm (~3.5 eV) laser. These results establish Al-STJs as viable detectors for systematic material studies in the BeEST experiment.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2024

Giant resistance switch in twisted transition metal dichalcogenide tunnel junctions

Resistance switching in multilayer structures are typically based on materials possessing ferroic orders. Here, in this work, we predict an extremely large resistance switching based on the relative spin–orbit splitting in twisted transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers tunnel junctions. Because of the valence band spin splitting which depends on the valley index in the Brillouin zone, the perpendicular electronic transport through the junction depends on the relative reciprocal space overlap of the spin-dependent Fermi surfaces of both layers, which can be tuned by twisting one layer. Our quantum transport calculations reveal a switching resistance larger than 10 6 % when the relative alignment of TMDs goes from 0° to 60° and when the angle is kept fixed at 60° and the Fermi level is varied. By creating vacancies, we evaluate how inter-valley scattering affects the efficiency and find that the resistance switching remains large (10 4 %) for typical values of vacancy concentration. Not only should this resistance switching be observed at room temperature due to the large spin splitting, but our results also show how twist angle engineering and control of van der Waals heterostructures could be used for next-generation memory and electronic applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

STRUCTURAL STABILITY OF MAGNETIC TUNNEL JUNCTION BASED MOLECULAR SPINTRONICS DEVICES (MTJMSD)

Harnessing the exotic properties of molecular level nanostructures to produce novel sensors, metamaterials, and futuristic computer devices can be technologically transformative. In addition, connecting the molecular nanostructures to ferromagnetic electrodes bring the unprecedented opportunity of making spin property based molecular devices. We have demonstrated that magnetic tunnel junction based molecular spintronics device (MTJMSD) approach to address numerous technological hurdles that have been inhibiting this field for decades. MTJMSD approach is based on producing a capacitor like a testbed where two metal electrodes are separated by an ultrathin insulator and subsequently bridging the molecule nanostructure across the insulator to transform a capacitor into a molecular device. Our prior work showed that MTJMSDs produced extremely intriguing phenomenon such as room temperature current suppression by six orders, spin photovoltaic effect, and evolution of new forms of magnetic metamaterials arising due to the interaction of the magnetic a molecule with two ferromagnetic thin films. However, making robust and reproducible electrical connections with exotic molecules with ferromagnetic electrodes is full of challenges and requires attention to MTJMSD structural stability. This paper focuses on MTJMSD stability by describing the overall fabrication protocol and the associated potential threat to reliability. MTJMSD is based on microfabrication methods such as (a) photolithography for patterning the ferromagnetic electrodes, (b) sputtering of metallic thin films and insulator, and (c) at the end electrochemical process for bridging the molecules between two ferromagnetic films separated by ~ 2nm insulating gap.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗