Optically controlled electroresistance and electrically controlled photovoltage in ferroelectric tunnel junctions.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 26924259.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms10808 and PMC identifier 4773477.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs) have recently attracted considerable interest as a promising candidate for applications in the next-generation non-volatile memory technology. In this work, using an ultrathin (3 nm) ferroelectric Sm0.1Bi0.9FeO3 layer as the tunnelling barrier and a semiconducting Nb-doped SrTiO3 single crystal as the bottom electrode, we achieve a tunnelling electroresistance as large as 10(5). Furthermore, the FTJ memory states could be modulated by light illumination, which is accompanied by a hysteretic photovoltaic effect. These complimentary effects are attributed to the bias- and light-induced modulation of the tunnel barrier, both in height and width, at the semiconductor/ferroelectric interface. Overall, the highly tunable tunnelling electroresistance and the correlated photovoltaic functionalities provide a new route for producing and non-destructively sensing multiple non-volatile electronic states in such FTJs.