¤ About project
Applications such as high-frequency and neuromorphic circuits, optoelectronic/plasmonic detection of biomolecules or thermo-opto-electronics energy harvesting, require tunable and reconfigurable functionalities. Graphene is suitable for these applications because of electrostatic doping, its optical constants being tuned via gate voltages. However, oxide substrates limit the mobility in graphene to few thousands cm2/V•s. On the contrary, the mobility in graphene/ferroelectric (G/F) heterostructures is 2-3 orders of magnitude larger. The groundbreaking nature of the project is based on the possibility of significantly enhancing the functionality of graphene-based transistors/devices by using crystalline ferroelectric substrates instead of common oxides or SiC substrates. The G/F heterostructures allow: (i) the achievement of very high mobilities in G/F field effect transistors (FETs), which push the transistor gain in the 0.3-1 THz range, far above 70 GHz at which the maximum gain is attained nowadays, (ii) the fabrication of uncooled tunable detectors working in the THz and IR, (iii) the exploitation of the hysteretic resistance behaviour, essential for neuromorphic applications such as artificial synapses, (iv) the fabrication of reconfigurable microwave circuits, and (v) of tunable thermoelectronic devices, since graphene displays a giant thermoelectric effect. The project will consist of the design, fabrication and testing of groundbreaking, innovative nanoelectronic devices, in particular ultrafast electronic devices, neuromorphic circuits for computation, reconfigurable and harvesting devices, all based on the outstanding physical properties of G/F heterostructures. All fabrication techniques for growing graphene-ferroelectric heterostructures in this project should be scalable at wafer scale. The project is implemented by a consortium of 3 national R&D institutes and the leading Romanian university, which have the necessary advanced infrastructure.
¤ General data:
- Project duration: 2018-2020
- Domain: Physical Sciences and Engineering
¤ Project coordinated by:
National Institute for Research and Development in Microtechnologies-
IMT Bucharest
http://www.imt.ro/ |
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Partners: University of Bucharest; National Institute for Materials Physics ( NIMP) Bucharest, National Institute for Laser, Plasma & Radiation Physics (INFLPR) |
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¤ NEW! Scientific reports: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 (the report in 2022 is in English and it is a synthtic report of all project 2018-2022)
¤ NEW! Results 2022 [...]
¤ NEW! Articles and Conferences [...]
¤ Objectives
The specific objectives of the GRAPHENEFERRO project are:
- Objective 1. Growth of PZT and HfO2-based ferroelectrics and graphene monolayer transfer on them at the wafer scale.
- Objective 2. Graphene field-effect transistors (FETs) based on graphene/ferroelectric heterostructures for high-frequency applications
- Objective 3. Neuromorphic circuits based on graphene/ferroelectric heterostructures
- Objective 4. Thermoelectric devices based on graphene/ferroelectric heterostructures
¤ Results 2019 [...]
A. We have grown HfO2-based ferroelctrics doped with Zr , Al and Ge at the wafer level on Si/SiO2 wafers and we have characterized them using XRD, PFM and microwave measurements.
B. We have transferred graphene on ferroelectric wafers and we have fabricated field-effect-transistors (FETs) to study their physical properties and to determine the mobility of carriers which is 8000 cm2/Vs at room temperature. We have also experimentally validated the theoretical predictions that HfZrO is opening a bandgap of 0.2 eV in graphene.
C. We have designed the first demonstrator to detect high frequencies using self-switching diodes (SSD), and FETs.
¤ Results 2018 (August-December 2018)[...] |
