INTERFACING - Control of interfaces for advanced physical phenomena and electronic devices
The trend of miniaturization in electronic devices is making the interface between different materials increasingly more important. The interfaces are at the core of the performance of almost any nanoelectronic device, creating new physical phenomena that offer unexplored technological potential. This project aims to understand and control interfaces for advanced physical phenomena and electronic devices. The project is divided into three sections: interfaces for spintronics, metal/molecular interfaces, and 2D/molecular interfaces.
The current miniaturization trend in electronic devices requires that the size of each individual component is reduced accordingly and gradually, the intrinsic bulk properties of the materials themselves are becoming less important and the actual interface between different materials is becoming increasingly more relevant. Interfaces are currently at the core of the performance of virtually any nanoelectronic device. From the fundamental point of view, interfaces create new physical phenomena that are not present in the boundary materials and thus open the road to unexplored areas of virgin technological potential. In this project, we aim at understanding and controlling interfaces for advanced physical phenomena and electronic devices with the objective of creating an impact in the future electronic industry.
The project, considering our expertise and equipment available, has been split into three sections which are: interfaces for spintronics, metal/molecular interfaces and 2D/molecular interfaces, respectively. In the first section we will explore spin to charge conversion by means of electrical non-local spin valves. At the interfaces between different metals and metals and other materials such as topological insulators we expect to obtain large conversion between charge and spin, being able to create spin currents without ferromagnetic materials. We will also control spin currents by the spin transfer torque at metal or graphene/magnetic insulator interfaces. This control of spin currents will place us closer to the long sought-after spin transistor. In the second section, we will first explore the critical energy level alignment between metal and molecular semiconductors (both small molecules and polymers). This alignment determines the performance of virtually every organic device (from OLEDs to photovoltaics) and its determination in a simple configuration would be a major breakthrough. We also expect to control such energy alignment via interface dipoles, while we will cross check our results with data coming from photoemission spectroscopy. Moving beyond energy tuning at interfaces, we aim as well at creating new materials at the surface of reactive metals by molecular deposition. This is a largely unexplored area and we expect to be even able to create nanoscale magnetic bits by simple molecular patterning on substrates such as Copper. In the third and final section, we will explore the Schottky barrier at the interface between bi-dimensional semiconductive transition metal dichalcogenides and molecular semiconductors. We will make use of both p and n-type 2D materials and move forward the realization of more complex circuits such as ring oscillators and photovoltaic cells controlled by an external gate voltage.
This project has been funded by MAT2015-65159-R / MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033/ FEDER UE, Una manera de hacer Europa
