New method to steer electricity in atom-thin metals may revolutionize devices
In a major step toward next-generation electronics, researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, led by CEMS Professor Bharat Jalan and Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Tony Low, have discovered a way to manipulate the direction of charge flow in ultrathin metallic films at room temperature using light. This discovery opens the door to more energy-efficient optical sensors, detectors, and quantum information devices.
The research is published in Science Advances, a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary, high-impact scientific journal.
The team showed that ultra-thin layers of ruthenium dioxide (RuO2), grown on titanium dioxide (TiO2), can be made to behave differently depending on direction—both in how they respond to light and how electricity moves through them.
“We solved this problem by carefully designing ultra-thin metal layers that interact with light in new ways—something you don’t see in the thicker version of this material,” said Bharat Jalan, senior author of the study and the Shell Chair Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. “This work demonstrates that we can now tailor ultrafast conductivity in metals using the same kind of precise control of epitaxial strain, a method previously reserved for semiconductors or insulators.”
The study shows that by altering how atoms are stretched in different directions, scientists can control the way the material responds to light. This is an effect that works at room temperature and can be used for real-world technology.
Learn more about this cutting-edge resource by reading the full article at the College of Science and Engineering's website.
Read the full paper entitled, “Anisotropic Strain Relaxation-Induced Directional Ultrafast Carrier Dynamics in RuO2 Films” on the Science Advances website.