A reconfigurable device based on 2D van der Waals heterostructures that works both as a transistor and memory - Tech Xplore

One cardinal nonsubjective of electronics engineering probe is to make computing devices that are some highly performing and energy-efficient, meaning that they tin compute accusation rapidly portion consuming small power. One imaginable mode to bash this could beryllium to harvester units that execute logic operations and representation components into a azygous device.

So far, astir computing devices person been made up of a processing portion and a physically abstracted memory component. The instauration of a instrumentality that tin efficiently execute some these functions, referred to arsenic a logic-in-memory architecture, could assistance to importantly simplify devices and chopped down their powerfulness consumption.

While a fewer of the logic-in-memory architectures projected truthful acold achieved promising results, astir existing solutions travel with applicable limitations. For instance, immoderate devices person been recovered to beryllium unstable, unreliable oregon lone applicable to circumstantial usage cases.

Researchers astatine Hunan University person precocious developed a caller reconfigurable logic-in-memory architecture based connected a 2D van der Waals heterostructure, structures made up of isolated atomic layers bound unneurotic by the anemic van der Waals interaction. Their device, introduced successful a insubstantial published successful Nature Electronics, tin enactment some arsenic a reconfigurable transistor (i.e., instrumentality that tin regulate, power and amplify electrical signals) and arsenic a reconfigurable representation component.

"We study a two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructure instrumentality that tin relation arsenic some reconfigurable transistor and reconfigurable non-volatile memory, arsenic good arsenic supply reconfigurable logic-in-memory capabilities," Xingxia Sun, Chenguang Zhu, Jiali Yi and their colleagues wrote successful their paper. "The architecture of the device—termed a partial floating-gate field-effect transistor—offers some charge-trapping and field-regulating units."

The logic-in-memory instrumentality created by Sun and her colleagues was termed a partial floating-gate field-effect transistor (PFGFET). It was fabricated utilizing graphene (acting arsenic the alleged floating gate), hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), and tungsten diselenide (WSe₂).

Due to its unsocial design, the instrumentality tin beryllium easy reconfigured and switched to execute either representation oregon transistor functions. In archetypal tests, the researchers showed that it performs remarkably successful some of these functions.

"When operating arsenic a transistor, the instrumentality tin beryllium switched betwixt the p- and n-type mode, and exhibits a subthreshold plaything of 64 mV dec^–1 and on/off existent ratio approaching 10⁸," Sun, Zhu, Yi and their colleagues wrote successful their paper. "When operating arsenic a memory, the instrumentality tin beryllium switched betwixt the p- and n-type representation and exhibits an erase/program ratio approaching 10⁸."

In the future, the caller logic-in representation architecture projected by this squad of researchers could beryllium utilized to make a assortment of highly performing electronic devices, importantly lowering their powerfulness consumption. So far, Sun and her colleagues successfully utilized the PFGFETs they created to fabricate gates to execute some linear and nonlinear binary operations, but they could yet beryllium applied to a broader scope of computations and cognition patterns.

"We usage the devices to fabricate complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor circuits, and linear and nonlinear logic gates with successful situ storage, arsenic good arsenic device-efficient half-adder circuits," the researchers explained successful their paper.

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