A Room-Temperature Ferroelectric Resonant Tunneling Diode

Authors

Zhijun Ma,, Hubei University, University of New South Wales
Qi Zhang, University of New South Wales
Lingling Tao, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Yihao Wang, Hubei University
Daniel Sando, University of New South Wales
Jinling Zhou, University of New South Wales
Yizhong Guo, University of New South Wales
Michael Lord, University of New South Wales
Peng Zhou, Hubei University
Yongqi Ruan, Hubei University
Zhiwei Wang, Hubei University
Alex Hamilton, University of New South Wales
Alexei Gruverman, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, University of Nebraska at LincolnFollow
Tianjin Zhang, Hubei University
Nagarajan Valanoor, University of New South Wales

Date of this Version

6-14-2022

Citation

Adv. Mater. 2022, 2205359. DOI: 10.1002/adma.202205359

Comments

Used by Permission.

Abstract

Resonant tunneling is a quantum-mechanical effect in which electron transport is controlled by the discrete energy levels within a quantum-well (QW) structure. A ferroelectric resonant tunneling diode (RTD) exploits the switchable electric polarization state of the QW barrier to tune the device resistance. Here, the discovery of robust room-temperature ferroelectric-modulated resonant tunneling and negative differential resistance (NDR) behaviors in all-perovskite-oxide BaTiO₃/SrRuO₃/BaTiO₃ QW structures is reported. The resonant current amplitude and voltage are tunable by the switchable polarization of the BaTiO₃ ferroelectric with the NDR ratio modulated by ≈3 orders of magnitude and an OFF/ON resistance ratio exceeding a factor of 2 × 10⁴. The observed NDR effect is explained an energy bandgap between Ru-t_2g and Ru-eg orbitals driven by electron–electron correlations, as follows from density functional theory calculations. This study paves the way for ferroelectric-based quantum-tunneling devices in future oxide electronics.