Since its invention in the 1960s, one of the most significant evolutions of metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOS-FETs) would be the three dimensionalized version that makes the semiconducting channel vertically wrapped by conformal gate electrodes, also recognized as FinFET. During the past decades, the width of fin (W $${}_{{\rm{fin}}}$$ ) in FinFETs has shrunk from about 150 nm to a few nanometers. However, W $${}_{{\rm{fin}}}$$ seems to have been levelling off in recent years, owing to the limitation of lithography precision. Here, we show that by adapting a template-growth method, different types of mono-layered two-dimensional crystals are isolated in a vertical manner. Based on this, FinFETs with one atomic layer fin are obtained, with on/off ratios reaching $$\sim\!\! 10^{7}$$ . Our findings push the FinFET to the sub 1 nm fin-width limit, and may shed light on the next generation nanoelectronics for higher integration and lower power consumption.
Superconductor-ferromagnet interfaces in two-dimensional heterostructures present a unique opportunity to study the interplay between superconductivity and ferromagnetism. The realization of such nanoscale heterostructures in van der Waals (vdW) crystals remains largely unexplored due to the challenge of making atomically-sharp interfaces from their layered structures. Here, we build a vdW ferromagnetic Josephson junction (JJ) by inserting a few-layer ferromagnetic insulator Cr2Ge2Te6 into two layers of superconductor NbSe2. The critical current and corresponding junction resistance exhibit a hysteretic and oscillatory behavior against in-plane magnetic fields, manifesting itself as a strong Josephson coupling state. Also, we observe a central minimum of critical current in some JJ devices as well as a nontrivial phase shift in SQUID structures, evidencing the coexistence of 0 and π phase in the junction region. Our study paves the way to exploring sensitive probes of weak magnetism and multifunctional building-blocks for phase-related superconducting circuits using vdW heterostructures.
Interfacial moiré superlattices in van der Waals vertical assemblies effectively reconstruct the crystal symmetry, leading to opportunities for investigating exotic quantum states. Notably, a two-dimensional nanosheet has top and bottom open surfaces, allowing the specific case of doubly aligned super-moiré lattice to serve as a toy model for studying the tunable lattice symmetry and the complexity of related electronic structures. Here, we show that by doubly aligning a graphene monolayer to both top and bottom encapsulating hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), multiple conductivity minima are observed away from the main Dirac point, which are sensitively tunable with respect to the small twist angles. Moreover, our experimental evidences together with theoretical calculations suggest correlated insulating states at integer fillings of −5, −6, −7 electrons per moiré unit cell, possibly due to inter-valley coherence. Our results provide a way to construct intriguing correlations in 2D electronic systems in the weak interaction regime.
The realization of graphene gapped states with large on/off ratios over wide doping ranges remains challenging. Here, we investigate heterostructures based on Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene (BLG) atop few-layered CrOCl, exhibiting an over-1-GΩ-resistance insulating state in a widely accessible gate voltage range. The insulating state could be switched into a metallic state with an on/off ratio up to 107by applying an in-plane electric field, heating, or gating. We tentatively associate the observed behavior to the formation of a surface state in CrOCl under vertical electric fields, promoting electron–electron (e–e) interactions in BLG via long-range Coulomb coupling. Consequently, at the charge neutrality point, a crossover from single particle insulating behavior to an unconventional correlated insulator is enabled, below an onset temperature. We demonstrate the application of the insulating state for the realization of a logic inverter operating at low temperatures. Our findings pave the way for future engineering of quantum electronic states based on interfacial charge coupling.
Transition metal phosphorous trichalcogenides (MPX) have been extensively investigated as photodetectors due to their wide-bandgap semiconductor properties. However, the research involved in the photoresponses at low temperatures remain blank. Here, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN)-encapsulated NiPS field effect transistors were fabricated by using the dry-transfer technique, indicating strong stability under atmospheric environments. The NiPS devices with the thickness of 10.4 nm, showed broad photoresponses from near-infrared to ultraviolet radiation at the liquid nitrogen temperature, and the minimum of rise time can reach 30 ms under the wavelength of 405 nm. The mechanism of temperature-dependent photoresponses can be deduced by competition between Schottky barrier height and thermal fluctuation. Our findings provide insights into superior phototransistors in few-layered NiPS for ultrasensitive light detection.