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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Dual-ion ECRAM as a stable and accurate analog synapse

Electrochemical random-access memory (ECRAM) works by tuning the bulk electronic conductance of functional materials via reversible, electrochemical insertion of ions, resulting in stable analog resistive switching, attractive for analog in-memory and neuromorphic computing. However, achieving fast programming for training and long retention for inference has been elusive. Protonic ECRAM demonstrates fast programming but insufficient retention, while oxygen-based ECRAM with excellent retention requires elevated programming temperatures. Cu-based ECRAM offers a compromise, with an activation energy (E A ) of ≈0.76 eV between protons (E A ≈ 0.4 eV) and oxygen (E A > 1 eV), enabling extensive retention and room temperature programming. Combining Cu 2+ ions with protons to form a dual-ion ECRAM, we demonstrate two distinct switching behaviors: fast switching at ≤5 V, (E A ≈ 0.45 eV) via protons, and nonvolatile, room temperature switching at ≥8 V, with E A ≈ 0.76 eV via Cu 2+ ions. In conclusion, the Cu-based state exhibits a wide conductance range, with excellent retention, low noise, and linear current-voltage behavior, achieving digital-equivalent ImageNet inference accuracy.

analog in-memory computing↗
DOE OSTI2025

Polarization-Controlled Structural Modulation in the Single Atomic Layer at the PbZr 0.2 Ti 0.8 O 3 /LaNiO 3 Interface

Conductivity modulation via ferroelectric polarization coupling with LaNiO 3 (LNO) is demonstrated at an epitaxial ferroelectric–LNO interface. Conductivity measurements, varying the thickness of the LNO channel, show that this phenomenon is confined to a few atomic layers at the interface. Combining in situ biasing and off-axis holography, we mapped out electrostatic potentials at the PbZr 0.2 Ti 0.8 O 3 (PZT)/LNO/SrTiO 3 (STO) heterostructure upon polarization switching. Using aberration-corrected STEM, the interfacial atomic structures were investigated for the two different PZT polarization states. Polarization in PZT induces a significant change in the in-plane O–Ni–O bond angles, with a 37° modulation in the topmost 1 or 2 LNO unit cells, driven by strain in the oxygen sublattice for the two opposite polarization directions in PZT. Both oxygen and cation sublattices exhibit strain responses exceeding 10% upon switching. This atomic-layer structural modulation highlights a mechanism for functional oxide heterostructure development, offering pathways for advancements in nonvolatile memory, sensors, and energy-efficient transistors.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2025

Ferroelectricity in Atomic Layer Deposited Wurtzite Zinc Magnesium Oxide Zn 1– x Mg x O

Conformal deposition of wurtzite ferroelectrics, which is needed for their use in scaled nonvolatile memories, is challenging using current physical vapor deposition techniques. To overcome the conformality barrier, this work demonstrates ferroelectricity in wurtzite Zn 1− x Mg x O thin films prepared by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition, which is a non-line-of-sight deposition method. Films ranging in composition from x = 0.00 to x = 0.58 are predominantly wurtzite phase and exhibit a (0001)-texture. Increasing the magnesium content decreases the c/a ratio, increases the optical bandgap energy, increases the piezoelectric response, and enables polarization reversal. Clear polarization switching is demonstrated in 50 nm thick Zn 1− x Mg x O films by piezoresponse force microscopy in compositions containing x = 0.46 and x = 0.58.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Hybrid MBE Route to Adsorption-Controlled Growth of BaTiO 3 Membranes with Robust Polarization Switching

Freestanding ferroelectric membranes are promising for flexible electronics, nonvolatile memory, photonics, and spintronics, but their synthesis is challenged by the need for reproducibility with precise stoichiometric control. Here, we demonstrate the adsorption-controlled growth of single-crystalline, epitaxial BaTiO 3 films by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on a binary oxide sacrificial layer. Using a simple water-droplet lift-off method, we obtained submillimeter- to millimeter-sized membranes that retained crystallinity, as confirmed by high-resolution X-ray diffraction, and exhibited robust tetragonal symmetry, as verified by Raman spectroscopy. Impedance spectroscopy confirmed a high dielectric constant of ∼1340, reflecting the robust dielectric response of the membranes. Ferroelectric functionality was revealed by piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) and further verified by polarization-electric field (P-E) loop measurements with Positive-Up-Negative-Down (PUND). The P-E loops exhibited a remnant polarization of ∼5 μC cm –2 and a coercive field of ∼63 kV cm –1 . Furthermore, these results were interpreted in relation to c- and a-domain configurations.

Raman spectroscopy↗
DOE OSTI2024

Electrode Elastic Modulus as the Dominant Factor in the Capping Effect in Ferroelectric Hafnium Zirconium Oxide Thin Films

The discovery of ferroelectricity in hafnia based thin films has catalyzed significant research focused on understanding the ferroelectric property origins and means to increase stability of the ferroelectric phase. Prior studies have revealed that biaxial tensile stress via an electrode “capping effect” is a suspected ferroelectric phase stabilization mechanism. This effect is commonly reported to stem from a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) incongruency between the hafnia and top electrode. Despite reported correlations between ferroelectric phase fraction and electrode CTE, the thick silicon substrate dominates the mechanics and CTE-related stresses, negating any dominant contribution from an electrode CTE mismatch toward the capping effect. In this work, these discrepancies are reconciled, and the origin of these differences deriving from electrode elastic modulus, not CTE, is demonstrated. Pt/M/TaN/Hf 0.5 Zr 0.5 O 2 /TaN/Si devices, where M is platinum, TaN, iridium, tungsten, and ruthenium, were fabricated. Sin 2 (ψ)-based X-ray diffraction measurements of biaxial stress in the HZO layer reveal a strong correlation between biaxial stress, remanent polarization, and electrode elastic modulus. Conversely, a low correlation exists between the electrode CTE, HZO biaxial stress, and remanent polarization. A higher elastic modulus enhances the resistance to electrode elastic deformation, which intensifies the capping effect during crystallization, and culminates in the tandem restriction of out-of-plane hafnia volume expansion and preferential orientation of the polar c-axis normal to the plane. These behaviors concomitantly increase the ferroelectric phase stability and polarization magnitude. This work provides electrode material selection guidelines toward the development of high-performing ferroelectric hafnia into microelectronic devices, such as nonvolatile memories.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Probing the Effects of the First Atomic Layer on the Dynamic Behavior of Sub-2 nm MgO/Al 2 O 3 Memristors

As electronic devices continue to scale down from the current sub-5 nm range, atomic-scale control of defects becomes increasingly crucial to suppressing their impact on the physical properties of the devices. Memristors present an excellent example as a nonlinear and dynamic device with high speed and endurance required for electronic applications ranging from neuromorphic computing to nonvolatile memories. Herein we investigate the impact of atomic defects in sub-2 nm thick MgO/Al 2 O 3 atomic layer stack (ALS) memristors that use an M1 (switching layer)/M2 (oxygen vacancy reservoir layer) bilayer structure grown using in vacuo atomic layer deposition (iALD). Intriguingly, we revealed a direct correlation of the atomic defects in the M2 layer with the memristor dynamic behavior using a combined analysis of in situ scanning tunneling spectroscopy (iSTS) on the M2 layer and ex situ characterization on the memristors. Specifically, incomplete coverage of the 1st ALD atomic layer of M2 on the electrode yields defects at the M2/electrode interface. Despite the monotonic increase of ALD coverage, by almost three-fold from ~30% to >90%, at completion of the M2 layer of ~ 0.7 nm in thickness, the impact of the defects on the M2/electrode interface has been found detrimental to both memristor switching speed and endurance. Guided by atomistic simulation, we addressed the issue of interface defects via tuning of the Al surface hydroxylation to increase the first atomic layer ALD coverage to ~75%, leading to improved memristor switching speed and endurance by several orders of magnitude. In conclusion, these findings shed light on the correlation between the atomic defects and the dynamic behavior of sub-2 nm memristors and the importance of minimizing the atomic defects in memristors for future electronic applications.

Atomic Layer Deposition↗
DOE OSTI2026

Fabrication of Catalytic Distillation Membranes with Atomic Layer Deposition

The integration of catalysts onto the surface of membranes enables simultaneous physical separation and catalytic transformation of constituents in a feed stream, facilitating improved contaminant removal and fouling mitigation. Distillation membranes are a particularly attractive platform for catalytic membranes because they reject nonvolatile species and exhibit exceptional resistance to oxidative and radical-driven degradation. However, imparting catalytic functionality onto hydrophobic, porous distillation membranes has proven challenging since the membranes used are chemically inert and difficult to modify. Furthermore, catalysts on the membrane surface can decrease hydrophobicity and increase the membrane’s susceptibility to pore wetting and failure. In this work, we create a catalytic distillation membrane by coating a polytetrafluoroethylene membrane surface with titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) via plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition (ALD). By precisely tuning the ALD parameters, we demonstrate localized growth of TiO 2 near (within approximately 1 μm) the surface of polytetrafluoroethylene membranes, forming a catalytically active interface while preserving the underlying hydrophobic pore structure. Localized growth of TiO 2 is confirmed by electron microscopy and spectroscopy techniques, and membranes coated with 500 cycles of ALD show pressure tolerance up to 12.8 bar and higher than 95% salt rejection in pressure-driven distillation. Photocatalytic activity is demonstrated via the degradation of methylene blue dye under UV irradiation, where increasing TiO2 loading leads to an enhancement in dye degradation. These results establish a general strategy for integrating catalytic functionality into chemically inert, hydrophobic membranes without compromising distillation performance, providing a pathway toward multifunctional membranes that couple advanced oxidation with membrane separation for water treatment.

atomic layer deposition↗
DOE OSTI2025

Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy Imaging of Plasticity in Hydrogenated Perovskite Nickelate Multilevel Neuromorphic Devices

Ion drift in nanoscale electronically inhomogeneous semiconductors is among the most important mechanisms being studied for designing neuromorphic computing hardware. However, nondestructive imaging of the ion drift in operando devices directly responsible for multiresistance states and synaptic memory represents a formidable challenge. Here, we present Kelvin probe force microscopy imaging of hydrogen-doped perovskite nickelate device channels subject to high-speed electric field pulses to directly visualize proton distribution by monitoring surface potential changes spatially, which is also supported with finite element-based electric field distribution studies. First-principles calculations provide mechanistic insights into the origin of surface potential changes as a function of hydrogen donor doping that serves as the contrast mechanism. We demonstrate 128 (7-bit) nonvolatile conductance levels in such devices relevant to in-memory computing applications. The synaptic plasticity measurements are implemented in spiking neural networks and show promising results for classification (SciKit Learn’s Iris and Wine data sets) and control (OpenAI’s CartPole-v1 and BipedalWalker-v3) simulation tasks.

Kelvin probe force microscopy↗
DOE OSTI2025

Origin of large variations of current on/off ratio and switching voltage in atomically thin memristors: an exascale ab initio transport study

Nonvolatile resistive switching in two-dimensional monolayers opens a new avenue for high-density memory/computing devices. However, questions remain as to why the current on/off ratio and switching voltage vary significantly among different devices. Here, we simulate electronic transport of large systems consisting of a h-BN monolayer sandwiched by gold electrodes, enabled by an implementation of the nonequilibrium Green’s function method in the exascale density functional theory (DFT) code: Real-space MultiGrid. Systematic calculations reveal that the wide range of on/off ratios is due to variations in interface distances between the electrode and h-BN that significantly modulate their wavefunction overlap. In addition, DFT calculations demonstrate that the energy barrier of a gold atom dissociating from the electrode to h-BN increases dramatically with the interface distance, thereby explaining the strong dependence of the switching voltage on distance. Our work demonstrates the significance of interface distance in governing the current on/off ratio and switching voltage.

Electronic devices↗
DOE OSTI2026

Inductance meets memory in a quantum magnet

Orbital degrees of freedom offer a largely untapped route to emergent dynamical phenomena in correlated quantum materials. However, it remains unclear whether collective orbital states can intrinsically generate both reactive and memory functionalities in a bulk system. Here we show that in the ferrimagnet Mn₃Si₂Te₆, nonequilibrium reconfiguration of chiral orbital currents produces both emergent inductance and nonvolatile memristance as intrinsic properties of a single crystal. At low frequency and under a magnetic field along the c axis, coherent orbital-current domains generate robust clockwise inductive I-V loops. At higher frequency and low field, current-driven first-order reconfiguration leads to incomplete reversal and metastable trapping, producing an intrinsic electromotive force and a finite remanent voltage at zero current. These results establish orbital currents as a class of quantum state variables that encode both reactive and memory functionalities, opening routes toward intrinsically reconfigurable and energy-efficient electronic systems.

Cao, Tristan [University of Colorado, Boulder]↗
DOE OSTI2024

Local structure effects of carbon-doping on the phase change material Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5

Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 is used in phase change memory, a nonvolatile memory technology, due to its phase change properties. The primary advantage of phase change memory over the state-of-the-art (flash memory) is its simple and small device geometry, which allows for denser nodes and lower power consumption. In phase change memory, resistive heating induces fast switching between the high resistance amorphous and low resistance crystalline phases, corresponding to storage of low and high digital states, respectively. However, the instability of the amorphous phase of Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 presents issues with processing and long-term data storage; such issues can be resolved by C doping, which stabilizes the amorphous phase and raises the crystallization temperature. To better understand the local structural effects of C doping on Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 , in situ Ge K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements were taken during heating of films with various C doping concentrations. Here, the range of structural transformation temperatures derived from X-ray absorption near-edge structure analysis across the C doping series proved narrower than crystallization temperatures reported in similar in situ X-ray diffraction experiments, which may reflect changes in local structure that precede long-range ordering during crystallization. In addition, rigorous extended X-ray absorption fine structure fitting across and between temperature series revealed effects of C doping on the rigidity of Ge–Te bonds at low (2 at% and 4 at%) C concentrations.

Langhout, John D.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Carbon doping in GeTe drives differences in local structure and properties

Advances in low-power, energy-efficient information storage and computing require understanding and controlling the atomic and nanoscale structures of functional materials, such as phase-change materials. Phase-change memory technology enables nonvolatile, low-power memory in devices by storing information through reversible changes in a phase-change material's atomic structure (i.e., transformations between amorphous and crystalline phases) that have corresponding changes in properties, including electronic resistivity and optical reflectivity. Here, we apply complementary X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray pair distribution function analyses to experimentally identify the local- and medium-range atomic structure differences of GeTe and C-doped GeTe thin films. Upon controlled heating, composition- and temperature-dependent atomic structure evolution in GeTe and C-doped GeTe films shows differences in bonding behavior and local structure that directly influence crystallization onset temperature. We find that the introduction of C interrupts Ge–Ge bonds in amorphous GeTe, altering the as-deposited structure to be more similar to the distorted rocksalt structure of crystalline α–GeTe. The change alters the response of the amorphous atomic structure to heating and also lowers the crystallization onset temperature, from 230 °C in GeTe to 220 °C in the C-doped film. The combined insights from both X-ray techniques provide understanding of structural transformations that enables the development and optimization of next-generation memory and computing materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Thickness scaling and ferroelectric switching in wurtzite structure zinc magnesium oxide thin films

This study reports the thickness scaling of sputtered ferroelectric Zn 0.61 Mg 0.39 O (ZMO) thin films down to 43 nm. Encapsulated IrO 2 /ZMO/Ir capacitors exhibited switchable polarizations exceeding 50 μC cm −2 and coercive fields that increased from 3.9 to 4.4 MV cm −1 as the thickness decreased. Switching kinetics are best described by the simultaneous non-linear nucleation and the growth model. Bimodal switching is prevalent at low thicknesses, with the fastest switching times measured to be approximately 400 ns. Device encapsulation made ZMO switching kinetics more abrupt, potentially due to changes in the concentration of atmosphere-induced defects such as hydroxides. These results demonstrate stable ferroelectricity and sub-microsecond switching in sub-50 nm wurtzite ZMO, highlighting its potential as a low-voltage ferroelectric for integrated nonvolatile memory applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Space-Charge-Limited van der Waals Spin Transistor

Integrating semiconducting and magnetic materials could combine transistorlike operation with nonvolatility and enable architectures such as logic in memory. Here, in this work, we employ correlated electrical transport and scanning nitrogen-vacancy center magnetic imaging to elucidate a spin transistor concept that amalgamates vertical and lateral hopping transport inside a 2D antiferromagnetic semiconductor, mechanistically distinct from vertical tunneling devices. Our device, based on a monolayer-bilayer junction in CrSBr, displays giant, gate-tunable magnetoresistance driven by the dual action of electrostatic doping on space-charge-limited lateral conduction and interlayer exchange coupling. Moreover, we visualize a field-trainable, layer-sharing effect that selects between coherent or domain-wall reversal at the spin-flip transition, enabling multilevel, memristive conductance states. Our layer-dependent space charge mechanism for convergent electrical and magnetic control opens opportunities to address limitations in contemporary computing.

2-dimensional systems↗
DOE OSTI2025

Anomalous elastic softening in ferroelectric hafnia under pressure

his study employs first-principles density-functional theory (DFT) calculations to explore the elastic and mechanical properties of ferroelectric hafnia (HfO 2 ) in its polar orthorhombic 𝑃⁢𝑐⁢𝑎⁢2 1 phase under varying hydrostatic pressure conditions up to 30 GPa. Utilizing a plane-wave basis set and Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof generalized-gradient approximation for solids in our DFT calculations, we investigate both pure and yttrium-substituted HfO 2 . Our findings reveal an anomalous reduction in the 𝐶 33 component of the elastic tensor with increasing pressure, which becomes significant above 15 GPa and signals a potential pressure-driven structural phase transition at higher pressure. The analysis of atomic displacements under pressure sheds light on the unusual mechanical behavior and phase stability of this material. Additionally, we observe a transition from an indirect band gap to a direct band gap with increasing pressure, which could have significant implications for optical applications. Here, the effects of yttrium substitution on the mechanical and electronic properties are further examined, revealing that yttrium substitution softens the elastic response of this material and reduces the electronic band gap. These results enhance our understanding of elastic and mechanical responses of ferroelectric hafnia and its potential for applications in microelectronics, piezoelectric devices, and nonvolatile ferroelectric random-access memories. Further experimental validation is recommended to confirm our predictions and explore the practical implications of the observed phase transitions and electronic behavior of the ferroelectric hafnia under high-pressure conditions.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2024

Variation Tolerant and Energy-Efficient Charge Domain Compute-in-Memory Array with Binary and Multi-Level Cell Ferroelectric FET

Here, in this work, we present a variation-tolerant and energy-efficient charge-domain Ferroelectric FET (FeFET) based Compute-in-Memory (CiM) array design that is compatible with both binary and multi-level cell memory sensing. We demonstrate that: 1) by exploiting FeFET as a nonvolatile switch, its high ON/OFF ratio in the subthreshold region can suppress the error introduced by the inaccurate ON state conductance, thus realizing robust CiM operations, unlike the current-domain CiM design where the computation results is highly sensitive to the device conductance variation; 2) by leveraging a dense dynamic random access memory (DRAM)-like 1FeFET1C cell structure, the proposed design benefits from the existing high density DRAM establishment while also significantly relaxing the capacitor retention and transistor leakage requirement; 3) the charge-domain CiM supports both binary FeFET with minimum overhead and MLC FeFET with tolerable latency for MLC state sensing, whose efficacy is validated experimentally on both cell-level and array-level; 4) the proposed CiM shows much better device variation resilience than conventional current-domain CiM, and also improves inference accuracy. Macro-level evaluation results demonstrate significantly higher energy efficiency and area efficiency compared to prior CiM works.

Duan, Jiahui [University of Notre Dame, IN (United↗
DOE OSTI2025

Observation of edge supercurrent in topological antiferromagnet MnBi 2 Te 4 -based Josephson junctions

Hybridizing superconductivity with topology and magnetism attracts growing interest in condensed matter physics. Here, we present our findings on the measurement of supercurrent induced in an intrinsic antiferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi 2 Te 4 . By constructing a MnBi 2 Te 4 proximity Josephson junction, we observed an anomalously large period of the Fraunhofer patterns, indicating a strong Josephson coupling state. As the MnBi 2 Te 4 thickness is reduced, a distinct asymmetric edge supercurrent emerges, aligning consistently with the observed oscillatory junction magnetoresistance. Leveraging this large asymmetric edge supercurrent, we have realized a nonvolatile Josephson diode device with programmable polarity, achieved through training with an out-of-plane magnetic field. Theoretical calculations substantiate that these behaviors are attributed to the interference between the highly asymmetric topological edge channel–mediated supercurrent induced in MnBi 2 Te 4 . Our study establishes this system as a promising avenue for investigating topological superconductivity, chiral Majorana edge modes, and advanced functionality device applications.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Large enhancement of ferroelectric properties of perovskite oxides via nitrogen incorporation

Perovskite oxides have a wide variety of physical properties that make them promising candidates for versatile technological applications including nonvolatile memory and logic devices. Chemical tuning of those properties has been achieved, to the greatest extent, by cation-site substitution, while anion substitution is much less explored due to the difficulty in synthesizing high-quality, mixed-anion compounds. Here, nitrogen-incorporated BaTiO3 thin films have been synthesized by reactive pulsed-laser deposition in a nitrogen growth atmosphere. The enhanced hybridization between titanium and nitrogen induces a large ferroelectric polarization of 70 μC/cm2 and high Curie temperature of ~1213 K, which are ~2.8 times larger and ~810 K higher than in bulk BaTiO3, respectively. These results suggest great potential for anion-substituted perovskite oxides in producing emergent functionalities and device applications.

Wang, Tao↗