A Programmable Nonvolatile Schottky Diode Based on van der Waals Ferroelectric Junction
Programmable and nonvolatile Schottky junctions are highly desirable for next-generation electronic and neuromorphic systems. However, conventional metal-semiconductor and even van der Waals (vdW) Schottky diodes often suffer from fixed rectifying behaviors or limited tunability. Here, we report a programmable nonvolatile ferroelectric Schottky diode based on a vdW heterojunction between semimetallic 1T'-MoTe<sub>2</sub> and ferroelectric α-In<sub>2</sub>Se<sub>3</sub>. The diode exhibits near-ideal performance, including a rectification ratio exceeding 10<sup>4</sup>, a leakage current down to 1 pA, and an ideality factor as low as 1.38. By switching ferroelectric polarization, the Schottky barrier can be modulated in a programmable manner, enabling reversible, nonvolatile, and multilevel rectification states. The device demonstrates polarization-dependent photoresponse and transient integrate-and-leak dynamics, closely resembling biological spiking neurons. A spiking neural network is implemented based on this behavior, achieving image recognition accuracy up to 98.4%. This work establishes programmable ferroelectric Schottky diodes as promising candidates for low-power memory, reconfigurable logic, and neuromorphic vision.
Authors
- Xin He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7009-2826)
- Liang Zou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9523-3020)
- Zhongyi Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3772-6492)
- Zongwen Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8700-5685)
- Zheng‐Dong Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3725-4912)
- Bin Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0237-6311)
- Fei Xue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9039-7088)
- Zhenhua Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4552-883X)
- Genquan Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5140-4150)
- Shangui Lan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9727-5494)
- Dongxing Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8030-0553)
- Pu Feng
- Xixiang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3478-6414)
- Yang Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3148-7678)
- Haoran Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8716-606X)
- Yinchang Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5201-6448)
- Yan Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5583-0587)
- Tao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0951-5476)
- Wenyu Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6448-1806)
- Baoyu Wang
- Lijun Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-7424-5151)
Institutions
- Xidian University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter (CN)
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (SA)
- Zhejiang University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nano Letters
- Published
- 2025-06-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c02646
- Citations
- 6
- Primary Topic
- 2D Materials and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.11
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
- China Scholarship Council
- Natural Science Foundation of Ningbo
- Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province