An Ultra-steep Slope Two-dimensional Strain Effect Transistor

We introduce a high-performance and ultra-steep slope switch, referred to as strain effect transistor (SET), with a subthreshold swing < 0.68 mV/decade at room temperature for 7 orders of magnitude change in the source-to-drain current based on atomically thin 1T'-MoTe₂ as the channel material, piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) as the gate dielectric, and nickel (Ni) as the source/drain contact metal. We exploit gate-voltage induced strain transduction in PZT leading to abrupt and reversible cracking of the metal contacts to achieve the abrupt switching. The SET also exhibits a low OFF-state current < 1 pA/μm, a high ON-state current > 1.8 mA/μm at a supply voltage of 1 V, a large current ON/OFF ratio > 1 × 10⁹, and a high transconductance of > 100 μS/μm. The switching delay for the SET was found to be < 5 μs, and no device failure was observed even after 1 million (1 × 10⁶) switching cycles.