Search NASA⌕ Search

Engineering topics

Xiong, Feng

Publications and source records attributed to Xiong, Feng.

Tuning electrical and interfacial thermal properties of bilayer MoS2 via electrochemical intercalation

Layered two-dimensional (2D) materials such as MoS 2 have attracted much attention for nano- and opto-electronics. Recently, intercalation (e.g. of ions, atoms, or molecules) has emerged as an effective technique to modulate material properties of such layered 2D films reversibly. We probe both the electrical and thermal properties of Li-intercalated bilayer MoS 2 nanosheets by combining electrical measurements and Raman spectroscopy. Furthermore, we demonstrate reversible modulation of carrier density over more than two orders of magnitude (from 0.8 × 10 12 to 1.5 × 10 14 cm -2 ), and we simultaneously obtain the thermal boundary conductance between the bilayer and its supporting SiO 2 substrate for an intercalated system for the first time. This thermal coupling can be reversibly modulated by nearly a factor of eight, from 14 ± 4.0 MW m -2 K -1 before intercalation to 1.8 ± 0.9 MW m -2 K -1 when the MoS 2 is fully lithiated. These results reveal electrochemical intercalation as a reversible tool to modulate and control both electrical and thermal properties of 2D layers.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

(Bi 0.2 Sb 0.8 ) 2 Te 3 based dynamic synapses with programmable spatio-temporal dynamics

Neuromorphic computing has recently emerged as a promising paradigm to overcome the von-Neumann bottleneck and enable orders of magnitude improvement in bandwidth and energy efficiency. However, existing complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) digital devices, the building block of our computing system, are fundamentally different from the analog synapses, the building block of the biological neural network—rendering the hardware implementation of the artificial neural networks (ANNs) not scalable in terms of area and power, with existing CMOS devices. In addition, the spatiotemporal dynamic, a crucial component for cognitive functions in the neural network, has been difficult to replicate with CMOS devices. Here, we present the first topological insulator (TI) based electrochemical synapse with programmable spatiotemporal dynamics, where long-term and short-term plasticity in the TI synapse are achieved through the charge transfer doping and ionic gating effects, respectively. We also demonstrate basic neuronal functions such as potentiation/depression and paired-pulse facilitation with high precision (>500 states per device), as well as a linear and symmetric weight update. We envision that the dynamic TI synapse, which shows promising scaling potential in terms of energy and speed, can lead to the hardware acceleration of truly neurorealistic ANNs with superior cognitive capabilities and excellent energy efficiency.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Quasi-Ballistic Thermal Transport Across MoS 2 Thin Films

Layered two-dimensional (2D) materials have highly anisotropic thermal properties between the in-plane and cross-plane directions. Conventionally, it is thought that cross-plane thermal conductivities (κ z ) are low, and therefore c -axis phonon mean free paths (MFPs) are small. Here, we measure κ z across MoS 2 films of varying thickness (20–240 nm) and uncover evidence of very long c -axis phonon MFPs at room temperature in these layered semiconductors. Experimental data obtained using time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR) are in good agreement with first-principles density functional theory (DFT). These calculations suggest that ~50% of the heat is carried by phonons with MFP > 200 nm, exceeding kinetic theory estimates by nearly 2 orders of magnitude. Because of quasi-ballistic effects, the κ z of nanometer-thin films of MoS 2 scales with their thickness and the volumetric thermal resistance asymptotes to a nonzero value, ~10 m 2 K GW –1 . This contributes as much as 30% to the total thermal resistance of a 20 nm thick film, the rest being limited by thermal interface resistance with the SiO 2 substrate and top-side aluminum transducer. Furthermore, these findings are essential for understanding heat flow across nanometer-thin films of MoS 2 for optoelectronic and thermoelectric applications.

42 ENGINEERING↗