Noncollinear antiferromagnets can generate a transverse electrical response known as the anomalous Hall effect, even though they possess almost no net magnetization. The microscopic origin of this behaviour, however, has remained unclear because conventional measurement geometries mix different contributions to the measured response. Here, we show that applying magnetic fields in selected in-plane directions allows us to disentangle the mechanisms underlying the Hall effect in a representative noncollinear antiferromagnet. By suppressing any dipole-related signal, we isolate a purely octupole-driven Hall response that exhibits a characteristic three-fold angular symmetry. At low magnetic fields, we further observe an additional Hall-like contribution that arises from the scalar spin chirality associated with noncoplanar spin textures. Combining symmetry analysis, first-principles calculations, and transport measurements, we reveal that octupole order, dipole moments, and chirality coexist and contribute in distinct field regimes. These findings establish a framework for identifying and controlling complex magnetic order parameters for spintronic applications.

Ever since Moore’s law and Von Neumann’s model were integrated in the early 20th century, they have become the golden rule and design for the semiconductor industry and a milestone for a future revolution. However, as technology advances, both conventional means get threatened as an industry standard. Moreover, as the technological node size decreases to a few nanometers, silicon-based materials encounter critical limits such as thermodynamically unfavorable, high-cost, and non-power-efficient. Two-dimensional (2D) materials have become a game changer in overcoming a current design strategy. A group of exotic 2D materials, from graphene to transition-metal dichalcogenides and MXene, have been identified and developed for practical applications. These atomically thin layered 2D materials possess outstanding physiochemical characteristics, such as electrical, mechanical, optical, and thermal capabilities, in addition to their flexibility. The most distinctive features enable the development of feather-weight and high-performance multivalent applications. In this review, we discussed the (i) physiochemical properties of a group of 2D materials for foreseeable semiconducting industry use, (ii) emerging materials synthesis techniques for device fabrication, (iii) quantitative and qualitative materials/devices characterizations techniques for atomic-scale 2D materials, (iv) breaking the prejudice via defect engineering for future materials design, and (v) the state-of-art prospects and introduction of incoming future electronics. The “Emerging science and technology” of the exotic 2D materials discussed in this review will pave the way for designing and selecting instrumental 2D materials for the future semiconducting industry.

One avenue toward next-generation spintronic devices is to develop half-metallic ferromagnets with 100% spin polarization and Curie temperature above room temperature. Half-metallic ferromagnets have unique density of states, where the majority spins are metallic but the minority spins are semiconducting with the Fermi level lying within an energy gap. To date, the half-metallic bandgap has been predominantly estimated using Jullière’s formula in a magnetic tunnel junction or measured by the Andreev reflection at low temperature, both of which are very sensitive to the surface/interface spin polarization. Alternative optical methods such as photoemission have also been employed but with a complicated and expensive setup. In this study, we developed and optimized a new technique to directly measure the half-metallic bandgap by introducing circularly polarized infrared light to excite minority spins. The absorption of the light represents the bandgap under a magnetic field to saturate the magnetization of a sample. This technique can be used to provide simple evaluation of a half-metallic film.

Two-dimensional materials (2DMs) have attracted a great deal of interest due to their immense potential for scientific breakthroughs and technological innovations. While some 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) such as MoS2 and WS2 are considered as the ultimate channel materials in unltrascaled transistors as replacements for Si, there has also been increasing interest in the monolithic 3D integration of 2DMs on the Si CMOS platform or in flexible electronics as back-end-of-line transistors, memory devices/selectors, and sensors, taking advantage of 2DM properties such as a high current driving capability with low leakage current, nonvolatile switching characteristics, a large surface-to-volume ratio, and a tunable bandgap. However, the realization of both of these scenarios critically depends on the development of manufacturing-viable high-yield 2DM layers transfer from the growth substrate to the Si, since the growth of high-quality 2DM layers often requires a high-temperature growth process on template substrates. Motivated by this, extensive efforts have been made by the 2DM research community to develop various 2DM layer transfer methods, leveraging the van der Waals transfer capability of the layer-structured 2DMs. These efforts have led to a number of successful demonstrations of wafer-scale 2D TMDC layer transfer, while 2DM-enabled template growth/transfer of some functional bulk materials such as III-V, Ge, and AlN has also been demonstrated. This review surveys and compares different 2DM transfer methods developed recently, with a focus on large-area 2D TMDC film transfer along with an introduction of 2DM template-assisted van der Waals growth/transfer of non-2D thin films. We will also briefly present an outlook of our envisioned multifunctionalities in 3D integrated electronic systems enabled by monolithic 3D integration of 2DMs and III-V via van der Waals transfer and discuss possible technology options for overcoming remaining challenges.

Metal-air batteries (MABs) and fuel cells (FCs) critically rely on electrocatalytic O2 activation, and O2 reduction reaction (ORR), with noble metal-free materials. However, the inception of their synergist reac-tivity is still unclear due to several electronic and structural limitations. Therefore, the correlation between their science and engineering and their experimental as well as theoretical activity descriptors can pave the way for the development of novel cheap, and efficient catalysts. Moreover, with this frame -work, several volcanic correlations were established, indicating that catalyst activity increases linearly with increasing binding energy of ORR intermediates up to a certain point, but after that, the activity decreases as binding energy increases. The motivation of this review is to highlight (i) recent designs and developments on non-noble-metal-containing electrocatalysts for ORR, (ii) correlations between science and engineering and existing activity descriptors to improve the electrocatalyst's ORR perfor-mance, and (iii) prospects and challenges with non-noble-metal-based electrocatalysts. The "science and engineering" of the electrode materials discussed in this review will aid researchers in selecting and designing ORR electrocatalysts for energy conversion processes.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Atomically-thin monolayer WS2 is a promising channel material for next-generation Moore's nanoelectronics owing to its high theoretical room temperature electron mobility and immunity to short channel effect. The high photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield of the monolayer WS2 also makes it highly promising for future high-performance optoelectronics. However, the difficulty in strictly growing monolayer WS2, due to its non-self-limiting growth mechanism, may hinder its industrial development because of the uncontrollable growth kinetics in attaining the high uniformity in thickness and property on the wafer-scale. In this study, we report a scalable process to achieve a 4 inch wafer-scale fully-covered strictly monolayer WS2 by applying the in situ self-limited thinning of multilayer WS2 formed by sulfurization of WOx films. Through a pulsed supply of sulfur precursor vapor under a continuous H2 flow, the self-limited thinning process can effectively trim down the overgrown multilayer WS2 to the monolayer limit without damaging the remaining bottom WS2 monolayer. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the self-limited thinning arises from the thermodynamic instability of the WS2 top layers as opposed to a stable bottom monolayer WS2 on sapphire above a vacuum sublimation temperature of WS2. The self-limited thinning approach overcomes the intrinsic limitation of conventional vapor-based growth methods in preventing the 2nd layer WS2 domain nucleation/growth. It also offers additional advantages, such as scalability, simplicity, and possibility for batch processing, thus opening up a new avenue to develop a manufacturing-viable growth technology for the preparation of a strictly-monolayer WS2 on the wafer-scale.

Neuromorphic computing based on two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides (2D TMDs) has attracted significant attention recently due to their extraordinary properties generated by the atomic-thick layered structure. This study presents sulfur-defect-assisted MoS2 artificial synaptic devices fabricated by a simple sputtering process, followed by a precise sulfur (S) vacancy-engineering process. While the as-sputtered MoS2 film does not show synaptic behavior, the S vacancy-controlled MoS2 film exhibits excellent synapse with remarkable nonvolatile memory characteristics such as a high switching ratio (∼103), a large memory window, and long retention time (∼104 s) in addition to synaptic functions such as paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) and long-term potentiation (LTP)/depression (LTD). The synaptic device working mechanism of Schottky barrier height modulation by redistributing S vacancies was systemically analyzed by electrical, physical, and microscopy characterizations. The presented MoS2 synaptic device, based on the precise defect engineering of sputtered MoS2, is a facile, low-cost, complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible, and scalable method and provides a procedural guideline for the design of practical 2D TMD-based neuromorphic computing.

Recently, two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) have attracted great attention due to their unique properties. To modulate the electronic properties and structure of TMDs, it is crucial to precisely control chalcogenide vacancies and several methods have already been suggested. However, they have several limitations such as plasma damage by ion bombardment. Herein, we introduced a novel solvent-assisted vacancy engineering (SAVE) method to modulate sulfur vacancies in MoS2. Considering polarity and the Hansen solubility parameter (HSP), three solvents were selected. Sulfur vacancies can be modulated by immersing MoS2 in each solvent, supported by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectroscopy analyses. The SAVE method can further expand its application in memory devices representing memristive performance and synaptic behaviors. We represented the charge transport mechanism of sulfur vacancy migration in MoS2. The non-destructive, scalable, and novel SAVE method controlling sulfur vacancies is expected to be a guideline for constructing a vacancy engineering system of TMDs.

Self-healable hydrogels present an emerging capability in energy harvesting, drug-release agents, artificial skin, and tissue engineering. Despite the various advantages of hydrogels, their low thermal stability, dehydration resistance, and mechanical properties hinder their practical applications. Herein, we introduced glycerol, 1,2,3,4-butanetetracarboxylic acid (BTCA), and sodium polyacrylate (SPA) into a hydrogel composed of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/ agarose/borax. This resulted in the fabrication of a dual network hydrogel (DNH) that integrates attractive properties such as self-healing properties induced without physicochemical stimuli, stretch-ability, dehydration resistance, anti-drying capability, or anti-freezing capability. The DNH developed in this study maintains flexibility after storage for 1 h at -20 ? and 77.3% of its original weight after storage at 50 ? for 168 h, indicating its superior anti-freezing capability and water retentivity along with excellent self-healing properties. In addition, by blending carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to impart electrical conductivity, we have demonstrated that the CNT-embedded DNH can be successfully applied as an adhesive conductive medium for a stimulus-sensitive sensing channel of strain sensors, one of the key prospects of wearable electronic skins. In particular, the CNT-embedded DNH-based strain sensor can monitor human motion efficiently when attached to human skin without any skin trouble, even after being attached to the skin for several days. Our study can open an avenue for exploring core conductive adhesive hydrogel materials for next-generation wearable electronic devices.

The emergence of spin-orbit torques as a promising approach to energy-efficient magnetic switching has generated large interest in material systems with easily and fully tunable spin-orbit torques. Here, current-induced spin-orbit torques in VO2/NiFe heterostructures are investigated using spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance, where the VO2 layer undergoes a prominent insulator-metal transition. A roughly twofold increase in the Gilbert damping parameter, alpha, with temperature is attributed to the change in the VO2/NiFe interface spin absorption across the VO2 phase transition. More remarkably, a large modulation (+/- 100%) and a sign change of the current-induced spin-orbit torque across the VO2 phase transition suggest two competing spin-orbit torque generating mechanisms. The bulk spin Hall effect in metallic VO2, corroborated by the first-principles calculation of the spin Hall conductivity sigma SH approximate to-104PLANCK CONSTANT OVER TWO PIe omega-1 m-1, is verified as the main source of the spin-orbit torque in the metallic phase. The self-induced/anomalous torque in NiFe, with opposite sign and a similar magnitude to the bulk spin Hall effect in metallic VO2, can be the other competing mechanism that dominates as temperature decreases. For applications, the strong tunability of the torque strength and direction opens a new route to tailor spin-orbit torques of materials that undergo phase transitions for new device functionalities.

Growth of textured and low-resistivity metallic seed layers for AlN-based piezoelectric films is of high importance for bulk acoustic wave resonator applications. Through optimization of Mo physical vapor deposition parameters, namely, the Ar flow rate, strong (110) texturing and low electrical resistivities (similar to 3 x 10(-7) Omega m) were observed for 43 +/- 3 nm thick Mo films on a CVD-grown MoS2 monolayer on c-Al2O3(0001) substrates. The strong texturing was attributed to the growth template effect of the monolayer MoS2 due to the presence of a local epitaxial relationship between (110)-Mo and (0001)-MoS2 (i.e., through MoS2(0001)[11 (2) over bar0]parallel to Mo(110)[(1) over bar 11] and/or MoS2(0001)[11 (2) over bar0]parallel to Mo(110)[001]), coupled with an atomic-scale flatness of the MoS2 surface, which promotes layer-by-layer growth of the Mo film. The deposited Mo/MoS2 monolayer stack can also be easily peeled-off from the growth Al2O3(0001) substrate for possible subsequent transfers onto arbitrary substrates (e.g., SiO2/Si(001)) due to a weak van der Waals coupling at the MoS2 and Al2O3(0001) interface, facilitating vertical stacking strategies for monolithic integration of high quality and therefore high-performance, AlN-based piezoelectric devices and sensors on the Si platform.

Data for the article "Tuning Spin-Orbit Torques Across the Phase Transition in VO2/NiFe Heterostructure" (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adfm.202111555 and http://arxiv.org/abs/2201.12984)

Efficient modulation of electrically injected spin signals that is suitable for modern-day transistor functionality is yet to be established. In this work, we demonstrate in detail the fabrication of a Fe/n-GaAs spin injection device and the experimental setup for an optical gating of the nonlocal spin transport signal. In situ scanning electron microscopy interface imaging reveals more uniform current distribution at the Fe/n-GaAs injector interface at bias voltages higher than the Schottky barrier height. Three- and four-terminal Hanle measurements confirm successful spin injection into n-GaAs, with strong interfacial spin dephasing at high magnetic fields. A time-resolved pump-probe Kerr rotation setup was used to illuminate circularly polarized light in the region of the pure spin current in Fe/n-GaAs lateral spin injection devices, where (0.4 +/- 0.3)% modulation of the nonlocal signal depending on the light helicity was observed at 30 K.

Magnetic skyrmions in heavy metal (HM)/CoFeB/MgO structures are of particular interest for skyrmion-based magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) devices because of their reliable generation, stability and read-out through purely electrical methods. To optimize the properties, such as stability, a strong Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) is required at room temperature. Here, using first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that giant DMI can be obtained in Ir/CoFe structures with an Fe-terminated configuration. Moreover, Brillouin light scattering measurements show that indeed Ta/Ir/Co20Fe60B20/MgO thin films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy exhibit a large DMI value (1.13 mJ/m2), which can be attributed to the smooth and Fe-rich interface between Ir and CoFeB layers. Furthermore, we observe stable sub-100 nm magnetic skyrmions at room temperature in Ir/CoFeB/MgO systems by magnetic force microscope. This work paves the way for promoting the application of skyrmions in CoFeB/MgO-based perpendicular anisotropy MTJ structures.

Piezoelectricity in two-dimensional (2D) transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) has attracted significant attention due to their unique crystal structure and the lack of inversion centers when the bulk TMDs thin down to monolayers. Although the piezoelectric effect in atomic-thickness TMDs has been reported earlier, they are exfoliated 2D TMDs and are therefore not scalable. Here, we demonstrate a superior piezoelectric effect from large-scale sputtered, asymmetric 2D MoS2 using meticulous defect engineering based on the thermal-solvent annealing of the MoS2 layer. This yields an output peak current and voltage of 20 pA and 700 mV (after annealing at 450 °C), respectively, which is the highest piezoelectric strength ever reported in 2D MoS2. Indeed, the piezoelectric strength increases with the defect density (sulfur vacancies), which, in turn, increases with the annealing temperature at least up to 450 °C. Moreover, our piezoelectric MoS2 device array shows an exceptional piezoelectric sensitivity of 262 mV/kPa with a high level of uniformity and excellent performance under ambient conditions. A detailed study of the sulfur vacancy-dependent property and its resultant asymmetric structure-induced piezoelectricity is reported. The proposed approach is scalable and can produce advanced materials for flexible piezoelectric devices to be used in emerging bioinspired robotics and biomedical applications.

Due to their extraordinary electrical and physical properties, two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are considered promising for use in next-generation electrical devices. However, the application of TMD-based devices is limited because of the Schottky barrier interface resulting from the absence of dangling bonds on the TMDs' surface. Here, we introduce a facile phase-tuning approach for forming a homogenous interface between semiconducting hexagonal (2H) and semi-metallic monoclinic (1T & PRIME;) molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2). The formation of ohmic contacts increases the charge carrier mobility of MoTe2 field-effect transistor devices to 16.1 cm(2) V(-1)s(-1) with high reproducibility, while maintaining a high on/off current ratio by efficiently improving charge injection at the interface. The proposed method enables a simple fabrication process, local patterning, and large-area scaling for the creation of high-performance 2D electronic devices.

We have developed a new non-destructive sub-surface interfacial imaging technique. By controlling the penetration depth of the incident electrons, through control of the electron beam acceleration voltage in a scanning electron microscope, we can observe sub-surface interfaces. The voltages for imaging are selected based on Monte Carlo electron flight simulations, where the two voltages have >5% difference between the number of backscattered electrons generated in the layers above and below the buried interface under investigation. Due to the non-destructive nature, this imaging method can be used alongside an applied electrical current and voltage, allowing concurrent observations of the interfacial structures and transport properties, e.g. effective and active junction area, to occur. Magnetic tunnel junctions used in magnetic random access memory have been imaged and the data has been fed back to improve their fabrication processes. Our imaging method is therefore highly useful as both a quality assurance and development tool for magnetic memory and nanoelectronic devices.

Mixed phase 2D Mo0.5W0.5S2 catalyst exhibits multifunctional catalytic performance in cathode resulting in high performance Li–S batteries.

Piezoelectric materials are widely used as electromechanical couples for a variety of sensors and actuators in nanoscale electronic devices. The majority of piezoelectric devices display lateral patterning of counter electrodes beside active materials such as two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (2D TMDs). As a result, their piezoelectric output response is strongly dependent on the lattice orientation of the 2D TMD crystal structure, limiting their piezoelectric properties. To overcome this issue, we fabricated a vertical sandwich design of a piezoelectric sensor with a conformal contact to enhance the overall piezoelectric performance. In addition, we enhanced the piezoelectric properties of 2D WS2 by carrying out a unique solvent-vapor annealing process to produce a sulfur-deficient WS2(1-x) structure that yielded a 3-fold higher piezoelectric response voltage (96.74 mV) than did pristine WS2 to a 3 kPa compression. Our device was also found to be stable: it retained its piezoelectric performance even after a month in an ambient atmospheric condition. Our study has revealed a facile methodology for fabricating large-scale piezoelectric devices using an asymmetrically engineered 2D WS2 structure.

Atomically thin two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (2D TMDs) are of interest for neuromorphic computing due to their extraordinary properties such as low power consumption, robustness, flexibility, and layered anisotropic transport properties. Here, we present metal-ion assisted 2D MoS2 neuromorphic devices fabricated using a simple sputtering method. This method enables us to synthesize large-scale and uniform nanostructured polycrystalline MoS2 films on flexible substrates. We found that the small grain of the MoS2 film effectively enhances the ion transport through the grain boundaries or interfaces in the MoS2 film, which results in excellent neuromorphic characteristics such as bipolar electrical property, short-/Iong-term plasticity (STP/LTP) with a high ratio of I-LRS/I-HRS (similar to 10(5)), paired-pulse facilitation (PPF), and stability. Furthermore, it was found that the memory performance parameters such as the SET/RESET voltage (V-SET/V-RESET) and the programming/erasing current ratio (I-on/I-off) can be affected by the concentration of ions inserted into MoS2. This work provides insight for realizing practical neuromorphic devices and understanding ion-mediated synaptic behavior of nanocrystal structures, which can be tuned for high-efficiency neuromorphic devices.