Toward high-current-density and high-frequency graphene resonant tunneling transistors
Abstract Negative differential resistance (NDR), a peculiar electrical property in which current decreases with increasing voltage, is highly desirable for multivalued logic gates, memory devices, and oscillators. Recently, 2D quantum-tunneling NDR devices have attracted considerable attention becau...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58720-7 |
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| _version_ | 1850128192284655616 |
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| author | Zihao Zhang Baoqing Zhang Yifei Zhang Yiming Wang Patrick Hays Seth Ariel Tongay Mingyang Wang Hecheng Han Hu Li Jiawei Zhang Aimin Song |
| author_facet | Zihao Zhang Baoqing Zhang Yifei Zhang Yiming Wang Patrick Hays Seth Ariel Tongay Mingyang Wang Hecheng Han Hu Li Jiawei Zhang Aimin Song |
| author_sort | Zihao Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Negative differential resistance (NDR), a peculiar electrical property in which current decreases with increasing voltage, is highly desirable for multivalued logic gates, memory devices, and oscillators. Recently, 2D quantum-tunneling NDR devices have attracted considerable attention because of the inherent atomically flat and dangling-bond-free surfaces of 2D materials. However, the low current density of 2D NDR devices limits their operating frequency to less than 2 MHz. In this study, graphene/hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)/graphene resonant tunneling transistors (RTTs) were fabricated using graphene and h-BN barriers with different numbers of atomic layers, showing a mechanism enabling the observation of NDR in high current density devices. A triangular etching approach was proposed to suppress the effects of graphene–metal contact resistance and graphene sheet resistance, enabling pronounced NDR effect even in a 2D tunneling device with a single atomic layer h-BN barrier. A room-temperature peak current density up to 2700 μA/μm2 and operational frequencies up to 11 GHz were achieved, demonstrating the potential of 2D quantum NDR devices for applications in high-speed electronics. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-19cc86fc0bab4b67b97e7e400e11d5ed |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-19cc86fc0bab4b67b97e7e400e11d5ed2025-08-20T02:33:25ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-05-0116111010.1038/s41467-025-58720-7Toward high-current-density and high-frequency graphene resonant tunneling transistorsZihao Zhang0Baoqing Zhang1Yifei Zhang2Yiming Wang3Patrick Hays4Seth Ariel Tongay5Mingyang Wang6Hecheng Han7Hu Li8Jiawei Zhang9Aimin Song10Institute of Nanoscience and Applications, Southern University of Science and TechnologyInstitute of Nanoscience and Applications, Southern University of Science and TechnologyShandong Technology Center of Nanodevices and Integration, School of Integrated Circuits, Shandong UniversityShandong Technology Center of Nanodevices and Integration, School of Integrated Circuits, Shandong UniversitySchool for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Arizona State UniversitySchool for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Arizona State UniversityShandong Technology Center of Nanodevices and Integration, School of Integrated Circuits, Shandong UniversityShandong Technology Center of Nanodevices and Integration, School of Integrated Circuits, Shandong UniversityShandong Technology Center of Nanodevices and Integration, School of Integrated Circuits, Shandong UniversityShandong Technology Center of Nanodevices and Integration, School of Integrated Circuits, Shandong UniversityInstitute of Nanoscience and Applications, Southern University of Science and TechnologyAbstract Negative differential resistance (NDR), a peculiar electrical property in which current decreases with increasing voltage, is highly desirable for multivalued logic gates, memory devices, and oscillators. Recently, 2D quantum-tunneling NDR devices have attracted considerable attention because of the inherent atomically flat and dangling-bond-free surfaces of 2D materials. However, the low current density of 2D NDR devices limits their operating frequency to less than 2 MHz. In this study, graphene/hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)/graphene resonant tunneling transistors (RTTs) were fabricated using graphene and h-BN barriers with different numbers of atomic layers, showing a mechanism enabling the observation of NDR in high current density devices. A triangular etching approach was proposed to suppress the effects of graphene–metal contact resistance and graphene sheet resistance, enabling pronounced NDR effect even in a 2D tunneling device with a single atomic layer h-BN barrier. A room-temperature peak current density up to 2700 μA/μm2 and operational frequencies up to 11 GHz were achieved, demonstrating the potential of 2D quantum NDR devices for applications in high-speed electronics.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58720-7 |
| spellingShingle | Zihao Zhang Baoqing Zhang Yifei Zhang Yiming Wang Patrick Hays Seth Ariel Tongay Mingyang Wang Hecheng Han Hu Li Jiawei Zhang Aimin Song Toward high-current-density and high-frequency graphene resonant tunneling transistors Nature Communications |
| title | Toward high-current-density and high-frequency graphene resonant tunneling transistors |
| title_full | Toward high-current-density and high-frequency graphene resonant tunneling transistors |
| title_fullStr | Toward high-current-density and high-frequency graphene resonant tunneling transistors |
| title_full_unstemmed | Toward high-current-density and high-frequency graphene resonant tunneling transistors |
| title_short | Toward high-current-density and high-frequency graphene resonant tunneling transistors |
| title_sort | toward high current density and high frequency graphene resonant tunneling transistors |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58720-7 |
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