A Programmable Nonvolatile Schottky Diode Based on van der Waals Ferroelectric Junction.

Wang, Baoyu; Chen, Wenyu; Zou, Lingrui; Wang, Tao; Li, Zongwen; Wang, Zhongyi; Xu, Haoran; Xu, Lijun et al. · Nano Lett · 2025

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Programmable and nonvolatile Schottky junctions are highly desirable for next-generation electronic and neuromorphic systems. However, conventional metal-semiconductor and even van der Waals (vdW) Schottky diodes often suffer from fixed rectifying behaviors or limited tunability. Here, we report a programmable nonvolatile ferroelectric Schottky diode based on a vdW heterojunction between semimetallic 1T'-MoTe<sub>2</sub> and ferroelectric α-In<sub>2</sub>Se<sub>3</sub>. The diode exhibits near-ideal performance, including a rectification ratio exceeding 10<sup>4</sup>, a leakage current down to 1 pA, and an ideality factor as low as 1.38. By switching ferroelectric polarization, the Schottky barrier can be modulated in a programmable manner, enabling reversible, nonvolatile, and multilevel rectification states. The device demonstrates polarization-dependent photoresponse and transient integrate-and-leak dynamics, closely resembling biological spiking neurons. A spiking neural network is implemented based on this behavior, achieving image recognition accuracy up to 98.4%. This work establishes programmable ferroelectric Schottky diodes as promising candidates for low-power memory, reconfigurable logic, and neuromorphic vision.