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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Ferroelectrically switched valley-dependent transmission in SnTe-PbTe-SnTe monolayer lateral heterostructures

A special class of valleytronic two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors possesses carrier pockets (i.e., valleys) along certain directions in the first Brillouin zone, which can be applied as a new degree of freedom for information storage and processing. Here we show that members of this family that are ferroelectric allow the location of these valleys to be switched by rotating the ferroelectric polarization. This makes possible the control of electronic state transmission probability through an energy barrier by ferroelectrically switching the polarization direction, thereby creating or eliminating valley matching in reciprocal space. We apply molecular beam epitaxy to grow lateral sandwich heterostructures with monolayer-thick ferroelectric SnTe separated by nanometer-wide paraelectric PbTe as the barriers. Using scanning tunneling microscopy, we show that the transmission probability of the 2D hole states at the valence band maximum of SnTe monolayer strongly relies on the relative orientation between the polarization directions of the two SnTe electrodes. The transmission can be switched from a suppressed state to a permitted state by rotating the ferroelectric polarization of one SnTe electrode by 90 degrees. Our work demonstrates the electric-field-control of valley locations and its potential for tunnel junction valleytronic devices.

electronic devices↗
NASA NTRS1990

MBE HgCdTe heterostructure detectors

HgCdTe has been the mainstay for medium (3 to 5 micron) and long (10 to 14 micron) wavelength infrared detectors in recent years. Conventional growth and processing techniques are continuing to improve the material. However, the additional ability to tailor composition and placement of doped layers on the tens of angstroms scale using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) provides the opportunity for new device physics and concepts to be utilized. MBE-based device structures to be discussed here can be grouped into two categories: tailored conventional structures and quantum structures. The tailored conventional structures are improvements on familiar devices, but make use of the ability to create layers of varying composition, and thus band gap, at will. The heterostructure junction can be positioned independently of doping p-n junctions. This allows the small band gap region in which the absorption occurs to be separated from a larger band gap region in which the electric field is large and where unwanted tunneling can occur. Data from hybrid MBE/liquid phase epitaxy (LPE)/bulk structures are given. Quantum structures include the HgTe-CdTe superlattice, in which the band gap and transport can be controlled by alternating thin layers (tens of angstroms thick) of HgTe and CdTe. The superlattice has been shown to exhibit behavior which is non-alloy like, including very high hole mobilities, two-dimensional structure in the absorption coefficient, resonant tunneling, and anisotropic transport.

Schulman, Joel N.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Nucleation Selectivity and Lateral Coalescence of GaAs over Graphene on Ge(111)

Here we use epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) to produce semimetallic graphene nanostructures embedded in a semiconducting GaAs matrix for potential applications in plasmonics, THz generation and detection, and tunnel junctions in multijunction solar cells. We show that (1) the combination of low sticking coefficient and fast surface diffusion on graphene enhances nucleation selectivity at exposed regions of the substrate and (2) high growth temperatures favor efficient lateral overgrowth, coalescence, and planarization of epitaxial GaAs films over the graphene nanostructures. Our work provides a more complete understanding of ELO using graphene masks, as opposed to more conventional dielectric masks, and enables new types of metal/semiconductor nanocomposites.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗