Nonvolatile MoTe₂ <i>p–n</i> Diodes for Optoelectronic Logics

Abstract

Construction of atomically thin p-n junctions helps to build highly compact electronic and photonic devices for on-chip optoelectronic applications. In this work, lateral nonvolatile MoTe₂ p-n diodes are constructed on the basis of the MoTe₂/h-BN/graphene semifloating gate field-effect transistor (SFG-FET) configuration. The achieved diodes exhibit excellent rectifying behaviors (rectification ratio up to 8 × 10³) and typical photovoltaic properties (with power conversion efficiency of 0.5%). Through manipulating the polarity of the stored charges in the semifloating gate, such rectifying behaviors and photovoltaic properties can be erased, resulting in a high conduction state ( n ⁺ -n junction). Such erasable and programmable behaviors further enable us to develop logic optoelectronic devices, realizing the switching of the device between different power conversion states and functional AND and OR optical logic gates. We believe that the achieved MoTe₂-based SFG-FET devices with interesting logic optoelectronic functions will enrich the modern photoelectrical interconnected circuits.