Polycrystalline, hexagonal HoMnO3 thin films sandwiched between an un-patterned Pt/Ti bottom electrode and a circularly patterned Al top electrode reveal forming-free, polarity dependent predictable and random, unipolar resistive switching with stable retention, and a resistance ratio between high resistance state (HRS) and low resistance state (LRS) larger than 104. An equivalent circuit model is proposed to describe the HoMnO3 memristor as a three-layered capacitor structure. Based on the energy band diagram of the HoMnO3 structure under applied negative and positive write bias, polarity dependent, predictable, and random resistive switching is explained. Furthermore, the conductance in LRS until RESET and in HRS until SET has been investigated. The conductance in LRS is large and constant until RESET bias is reached. The conductance in HRS increases from nearly zero to quantum conductance G0 (2e2/h) until SET bias is reached.

The mixed state transport properties of type-II superconductors are strongly influenced by the dynamic behavior of quantized magnetic fluxoids around the critical temperature (Tc), where a combination of normal and superconducting properties is exhibited. To understand the mixed state transport properties of type-II superconducting NbN ultrathin films (2D) we measured sheet resistance (RxxM) and Hall resistance (RxyM) of a 5-nm-thick NbN film around Tc (10.75 K) at temperatures 10.40, 10.68, and 10.77 K. Hall resistance (HR) was measured in external out-of-plane and in-plane magnetic fields up to 6 T, using 100 µA and 1 mA driving current in Van der Pauw geometry. The electric field of applied bias and Lorentz force of applied external magnetic field causes a movement of the normal conducting electrons within each fluxoid. The moving fluxoids cause dissipation and generation of Hall voltage. We developed a macroscopic analysis of the Hall resistance arising from fluxoids, to advance the differentiation between dissipating current and superconducting currents in type-II superconductors at Tc. We have extracted the number of normal conducting carriers per fluxoid and areal density and mobility of the fluxoids in dependence on the external magnetic field. This differentiation provides valuable insights into the dissipation mechanisms observed during transport measurements, e.g., after localized heating due to single photon absorption in nanostructured type-II superconductors. Furthermore, the developed macroscopic analysis of Hall resistance of fluxoids shows promising potential for investigating the fundamental aspects of fluxoid-defect interactions in type-II superconductors. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

In the era of Big Data and Internet of Things (IoT), information security has emerged as an essential system and application metric. The information exchange among the ubiquitously connected smart electronic devices requires functioning reliably in harsh environments, which highlights the need for securing the hardware root of trust. In this work, by leveraging the uniform nonlinear resistive switching of emerging electroforming-free analog memristive device based on $\mathbf {BiFeO}_3$ (BFO) thin film, the security-oriented hardware primitive (SoHP) system is developed and optimized with high-security level. The SoHP system utilizes the distinguishable power conversion efficiency generated at second and higher harmonics in low resistance state (memristor with diodelike behavior) and high resistance state (memristor with high resistive behavior) of memristive devices. By exploring the significant influence of writing bias and operational frequency in sourcing input voltage on the dynamic switching behavior of memristive device, the novel 2-memristor encoding scheme and 1-memristor decoding scheme are developed for SoHP system, which realizes a frequency enhancement of 4000 times in comparison to 1-memristor encoding scheme and 2-memristor decoding scheme. The encoded data bits that generated from physically implemented SoHP system pass diverse statistical test suites (i.e. ENT, BSI, and NIST SP-800.22 statistical test suites), which indicates the high randomness distribution of the encoded data and the high-security level of the proposed memristive encoding system.

Superconducting niobium nitride (NbN) films with nominal thicknesses of 4 nm, 5 nm, 7 nm, and 9 nm were grown on sapphire substrates using atomic layer deposition (ALD). We observed probed Hall resistance (HR) (Rxy) in external out-of-plane magnetic fields up to 6 T and magnetoresistance (MR) (Rxx) in external in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic fields up to 6 T on NbN thin films in Van der Pauw geometry. We also observed that positive MR dominated. Our study focused on the analysis of interaction and localisation effects on electronic disorder in NbN in the normal state in temperatures that ranged from 50 K down to the superconducting transition temperature. By modelling the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the MR data, we extracted the temperature-dependent Coulomb interaction constants, spin–orbit scattering lengths, localisation lengths, and valley degeneracy factors. The MR model allowed us to distinguish between interaction effects (positive MR) and localisation effects (negative MR) for in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic fields. We showed that anisotropic dephasing scattering due to lattice non-idealities in NbN could be neglected in the ALD-grown NbN thin films.

Emerging brain-inspired neuromorphic computing paradigms require devices that can emulate the complete functionality of biological synapses upon different neuronal activities in order to process big data flows in an efficient and cognitive manner while being robust against any noisy input. The memristive device has been proposed as a promising candidate for emulating artificial synapses due to their complex multilevel and dynamical plastic behaviors. In this work, we exploit ultrastable analog BiFeO3 (BFO)-based memristive devices for experimentally demonstrating that BFO artificial synapses support various long-term plastic functions, i.e., spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP), cycle number-dependent plasticity (CNDP), and spiking rate-dependent plasticity (SRDP). The study on the impact of electrical stimuli in terms of pulse width and amplitude on STDP behaviors shows that their learning windows possess a wide range of timescale configurability, which can be a function of applied waveform. Moreover, beyond SRDP, the systematical and comparative study on generalized frequency-dependent plasticity (FDP) is carried out, which reveals for the first time that the ratio modulation between pulse width and pulse interval time within one spike cycle can result in both synaptic potentiation and depression effect within the same firing frequency. The impact of intrinsic neuronal noise on the STDP function of a single BFO artificial synapse can be neglected because thermal noise is two orders of magnitude smaller than the writing voltage and because the cycle-to-cycle variation of the current–voltage characteristics of a single BFO artificial synapses is small. However, extrinsic voltage fluctuations, e.g., in neural networks, cause a noisy input into the artificial synapses of the neural network. Here, the impact of extrinsic neuronal noise on the STDP function of a single BFO artificial synapse is analyzed in order to understand the robustness of plastic behavior in memristive artificial synapses against extrinsic noisy input.

novel small signal equivalent circuit model is proposed in the inversion regime of metal/( ZnO , ZnMnO , and ZnCoO ) semiconductor/ Si 3 N 4 insulator/p-Si semiconductor (MSIS) structures to describe the distinctive nonlinear frequency dependent capacitance ( C-F ) and conductance ( G-F ) behaviour in the frequency range from 50 Hz to 1 MHz. We modelled the fully depleted ZnO thin films to extract the static dielectric constant ( ε r ) of ZnO , ZnMnO , and ZnCoO . The extracted enhancement of static dielectric constant in magnetic n-type conducting ZnCoO ( ε r ≥ 13.0) and ZnMnO ( ε r ≥ 25.8) in comparison to unmagnetic ZnO ( ε r = 8.3–9.3) is related to the electrical polarizability of donor-type bound magnetic polarons ( BMP ) in the several hundred GHz range (120 GHz for CdMnTe ). The formation of donor-BMP is enabled in n-type conducting, magnetic ZnO by the s-d exchange interaction between the electron spin of positively charged oxygen vacancies V_o^+ in the BMP center and the electron spins of substitutional Mn 2+ and Co 2+ ions in ZnMnO and ZnCoO , respectively. The BMP radius scales with the Bohr radius which is proportional to the static dielectric constant. Here we show how BMP overlap can be realized in magnetic n-ZnO by increasing its static dielectric constant and guide researchers in the field of transparent spintronics towards ferromagnetism in magnetic, n-ZnO .

Deionized water and glucose without yeast and with yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) of optical density OD600 that ranges from 4 to 16 has been put in the ring electrode region of six different types of impedance biochips and impedance has been measured in dependence on the added volume (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 µL). The measured impedance of two out of the six types of biochips is strongly sensitive to the addition of both liquid without yeast and liquid with yeast and modelled impedance reveals a linear relationship between the impedance model parameters and yeast concentration. The presented biochips allow for continuous impedance measurements without interrupting the cultivation of the yeast. A multiparameter fit of the impedance model parameters allows for determining the concentration of yeast (cy) in the range from cy = 3.3 × 107 to cy = 17 × 107 cells/mL. This work shows that independent on the liquid, i.e., DI water or glucose, the impedance model parameters of the two most sensitive types of biochips with liquid without yeast and with liquid with yeast are clearly distinguishable for the two most sensitive types of biochips.

We counted bacterial cells of E. coli strain K12 in several-microliter DI water or in several-microliter PBS in the low optical density (OD) range (OD = 0.05–1.08) in contact with the surface of Si-based impedance biochips with ring electrodes by impedance measurements. The multiparameter fit of the impedance data allowed calibration of the impedance data with the concentration cb of the E. coli cells in the range of cb = 0.06 to 1.26 × 109 cells/mL. The results showed that for E. coli in DI water and in PBS, the modelled impedance parameters depend linearly on the concentration of cells in the range of cb = 0.06 to 1.26 × 109 cells/mL, whereas the OD, which was independently measured with a spectrophotometer, was only linearly dependent on the concentration of the E. coli cells in the range of cb = 0.06 to 0.50 × 109 cells/mL.

We have investigated ferroelectric charged domains in polycrystalline hexagonal yttrium manganite thin films (Y1Mn1O3, Y0.95Mn1.05O3, Y1Mn0.99Ti0.01O3, and Y0.94Mn1.05Ti0.01O3) by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in secondary electron emission mode with a small acceleration voltage. Using SEM at an acceleration voltage of 1.0 kV otherwise homogenous surface charging effects are reduced, polarization charges can be observed and polarization directions (±Pz) of the ferroelectric domains in the polycrystalline thin films can be identified. Thin films of different chemical composition have been deposited by pulsed laser deposition on Pt/SiO2/Si structures under otherwise same growth conditions. Using SEM it has been shown that different charged domain density networks are existing in polycrystalline yttrium manganite thin films.

In this work, we report on the impedance of p-n junction-based Si biochips with gold ring top electrodes and unstructured platinum bottom electrodes which allows for counting target biomaterial in a liquid-filled ring top electrode region. The systematic experiments on p-n junction-based Si biochips fabricated by two different sets of implantation parameters (i.e. biochips PS5 and BS5) are studied, and the comparable significant change of impedance characteristics in the biochips in dependence on the number of bacteria suspension, i.e., Lysinibacillus sphaericus JG-A12, in Deionized water with an optical density at 600 nm from OD600 = 4–16 in the electrode ring region is demonstrated. Furthermore, with the help of the newly developed two-phase electrode structure, the modeled capacitance and resistance parameters of the electrical equivalent circuit describing the p-n junction-based biochips depend linearly on the number of bacteria in the ring top electrode region, which successfully proves the potential performance of p-n junction-based Si biochips in observing the bacterial suspension. The proposed p-n junction-based biochips reveal perspective applications in medicine and biology for diagnosis, monitoring, management, and treatment of diseases.

Emerging memristive devices have been recently suggested for use in secret key generation and other hardware security applications. This position paper brings together the views of researchers from material science and hardware-oriented security. It discusses the question which types of memristors are better suitable for the construction of major hardware security primitives. Specifically, this paper points out the problems caused by electroforming, a necessary step for most of today's memristive devices, and advocates the usage of electroforming-free memristors. It discusses which security properties can be met by such devices and where more research is required.

We present a superconducting bolometer fabricated by a rolled-up technology that allows one to combine the two-dimensionality (2D) of the super-conducting layer with a helical spiral curvature. The bolometer is formed as a free-standing Nb nanohelix acting as an ultrathin transition-edge sensor (TES) and having a negligible thermal contact to the substrate. We demonstrate the functionality of the thin-film TES by examining its microwave-detection performance in comparison with a commercial cryogenic bolometer from QMC Instruments. The nanohelix has been revealed to feature a noise equivalent power (NEP) of about 2 x 10(-10) W Hz(-1/2) at a microwave radiation power of 9 W m(-2), which is 4 orders of magnitude smaller than the NEP of the QMC sensor at a similar radiation power. Furthermore, the forecast for the nanohelix is a 1 to 2 orders of magnitude shorter response time as compared to sensors based on commonly used 1 mu m thick Si3N4 membranes. The reason is the extremely low heat capacity of the SO nm thick supporting material and the few contact points between the TES and the substrate. Our findings indicate that microwave radiation detection can be substantially improved by extending 2D superconducting structures into the 3D space.

Memristor technology will strongly influence the architecture of computer systems in the near future. Its potential in several application domains, e.g. in-memory information processing, neuromorphic computing, hardware cryptography, and machine learning makes it more than ever necessary to understand the underlying resistive switching mechanisms and to look for electroforming-free memristors. We have developed an electroforming-free bipolar memristor, namely BiFeO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> , which emulates spike-timing dependent plasticity. Neuromorphic engineering takes advantage of artificial neurons and artificial synapses to mimic the most complicated human attributes, learning and unlearning. Here we discuss how BiFeO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> memristors as artificial synapse and artificial neurons are used to implement both spike-timing dependent plasticity and cycle number dependent plasticity.

Magnetoconductivity of ten ZnO, Zn1−xCoxO, and Zn1−xMnxO thin films with nominal concentrations of 2.0 at.% and 0.1 at.% of Co2+ and Mn2+ ions, respectively, has been analyzed in the temperature range from 5 K to 200 K in in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic fields up to 6 T. The formation of a highly conducting surface layer can be controlled during thin film deposition, leading to a large variation of the sheet resistance, namely, from 2 × 103 Ω/◻ to 1 × 105 Ω/◻ at room temperature. Depending on the thickness of the highly conducting surface layer, a single two-dimensional (2D), a single three-dimensional (3D), or a two-dimensional and three-dimensional (2D + 3D) parallel conducting model was chosen to analyze the measured magnetoconductivity of the magnetic ZnO thin films with different electron spins (S=5/2 for Zn1−xMnxO and S=3/2 for Zn1−xCoxO) and with different Landé g-factors (isotropic for 3D Zn1−xMnxO and 2D Zn1−xCoxO and anisotropic for 2D Zn1−xMnxO and 3D Zn1−xCoxO).

We report unipolar resistive switching in polycrystalline, hexagonal yttrium manganite thin films grown on unpatterned Pt metal coated SiO2/Si substrates with circular Al top electrodes. Electroforming-free or electroforming-based resistive switching is observed, depending on the chemical composition (Y1Mn1O3, Y0.95Mn1.05O3, Y1Mn0.99Ti0.01O3, and Y0.94Mn1.05Ti0.01O3). The number of loading cycles measured at room temperature for samples with Y1Mn1O3 and Y0.95Mn1.05O3 composition is larger than 103. The dominant conduction mechanism of the metal–insulator–metal structures between 295 K and 373 K in the high resistance state is space charge limited conduction and in the low resistance state is ohmic conduction. Activation energies in Ohm's law region in the high resistance state are calculated from the Arrhenius equation and are evaluated to be 0.39 ± 0.01 eV (Y1Mn1O3), 0.43 ± 0.01 eV (Y0.95Mn1.05O3), 0.34 ± 0.01 eV (Y1Mn0.99Ti0.01O3), and 0.38 ± 0.02 eV (Y0.94Mn1.05Ti0.01O3).

Polycrystalline YMnO3 thin films sandwiched between an un-patterned bottom electrode (Pt or Pt/Ti) and a circular top electrode (Au or Al) reveal an electroforming-free, unipolar resistive switching. We report YMnO3 resistive switching devices endurance depending on the bottom electrode and the top electrode. The number of loading cycles of the Al/YMnO3/Pt resistive switch is larger than 103. The resistance ratio between the high resistance (OFF) and the low resistance (ON) state is larger than 104, which can be further increased to 105 by decreasing the diameter of the Al top electrode.

The dynamics of mobile oxygen vacancies depend on electric field and temperature, and this is key to controlling interfacial resistive switching in BiFeO${}_{3}$ memristive devices, which are interesting especially for neuromorphic computing. The authors use impedance spectroscopy and quasistatic state measurements to reveal the dynamics of resistance changes in such devices, and relate these changes to the redistribution of oxygen vacancies via modeling. This work will also impact the use of other oxides with mobile oxygen vacancies in similar devices.

In this paper, we report the magnetic and electrical properties of Mn implanted nearly intrinsic Si wafers after subsecond thermal treatment. Activation of acceptors is realized in pulsed laser annealing (PLA) films with a free hole concentration of 6.29 x 10(20) cm(-3) while the sample annealed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) shows n-type conductivity with a much smaller free electron concentration in the order of 10(15) cm(-3). Ferromagnetism is probed for all films by a SQUID magnetometer at low temperatures. The formation of ferromagnetic MnSi1.7 nanoparticles which was proven in RTA films can be excluded in Mn implanted Si annealed by PLA.

Isothermal magnetoresistance (MR) of n-type conducting Zn1–xMnxO thin films on a sapphire substrate with a Mn content of 5 at. % has been studied in in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic fields up to 6 T in the temperature range of 5 K to 300 K. During pulsed laser deposition of the ZnMnO thin films, we controlled the thickness and roughness of a highly conductive ZnMnO surface layer. The measured MR has been modeled with constant s-d exchange (0.2 eV in ZnMnO) and electron spin (S = 5/2 for Mn2+) for samples with a single two dimensional (2D) ZnMnO layer, a single three dimensional (3D) ZnMnO layer, or a 2D and 3D (2D + 3D) ZnMnO layer in parallel. The temperature dependence of modeled Thouless length LTh (LTh ∼ T−0.5) is in good agreement with the theory [Andrearczyk et al., Phys. Rev. B 72, 121309(R) (2005)]. The superimposed positive and negative MR model for ZnCoO thin films [Xu et al., Phys. Rev. B 76, 134417 (2007)] has been extended in order to account for the increase in the density of states close to the Fermi level of n-ZnMnO due to substitutional Mn2+ ions and their effect on the negative MR in ZnMnO.