Non-volatile memory and IR radiation modulators based upon graphene-on-ferroelectric substrate. A review

Abstract

I present a review of both experimental and theoretical studies performed during the recent three years, which deal with the physical properties and possible applications of graphene placed on ferroelectric (organic or Pb(ZrxTi1-x)O3 (PZT) ceramic) substrates. The system 'graphene-on-ferroelectric substrate' has unique advantages in comparison with the graphene deposited on SiO2 or on dielectrics with high dielectric permittivity. In particular, one can obtain high (~ 1012 cm-2) carrier concentrations in the doped graphene-on-ferroelectric structures for moderate (of the order of 1 V) gate voltages. The existence of a hysteresis (or anti-hysteresis) in the dependence of electrical resistance of graphene channel on the gate voltage facilitates creating bistable systems for different applications. The use of ferroelectric substrates has already enabled developing of robust elements of non-volatile memory of a new generation. These elements operate for more than 105 switching cycles and store information for more than 103 s. Such systems can be characterised theoretically by ultrafast switching rates (~ 10-100 fs). A theoretical analysis has also demonstrated that the structures 'graphene-on-PZT ferroelectric substrate' would result in developing efficient and fast small-sized modulators of mid-IR and near-IR radiations for different optoelectronic applications.