Electronic density of states modulated sliding ferroelectric tunneling junctions

Ferroelectric tunneling junctions rely on the tunability of tunneling current by the ferroelectric polarization in the junctions. Conventionally the tunneling-barrier height and/or width of the ferroelectric junction are modulated by the ferroelectric polarization to achieve this goal. In this work, we show that polarization modulated electronic density of states of a junction electrode made of graphene can provide another route to tune the tunneling electroresistance. This mechanism is especially valuable for the emerging sliding ferroelectric materials, which have weak polarization and cannot effectively modulate the tunneling-barrier height or width. In addition, this method has the flexibility of reconfigurable electroresistance by a gate voltage, providing new functionalities in ferroelectric tunneling junctions.