Unveiling the carrier transport mechanism in epitaxial graphene for forming wafer-scale, single-domain graphene

Graphene epitaxy on the Si face of a SiC wafer offers monolayer graphene with unique crystal orientation at the wafer-scale. However, due to carrier scattering near vicinal steps and excess bilayer stripes, the size of electrically uniform domains is limited to the width of the terraces extending up to a few microns. Nevertheless, the origin of carrier scattering at the SiC vicinal steps has not been clarified so far. A layer-resolved graphene transfer (LRGT) technique enables exfoliation of the epitaxial graphene formed on SiC wafers and transfer to flat Si wafers, which prepares crystallographically single-crystalline monolayer graphene. Because the LRGT flattens the deformed graphene at the terrace edges and permits an access to the graphene formed at the side wall of vicinal steps, components that affect the mobility of graphene formed near the vicinal steps of SiC could be individually investigated. Here, we reveal that the graphene formed at the side walls of step edges is pristine, and scattering near the steps is mainly attributed by the deformation of graphene at step edges of vicinalized SiC while partially from stripes of bilayer graphene. This study suggests that the two-step LRGT can prepare electrically single-domain graphene at the wafer-scale by removing the major possible sources of electrical degradation

Systematic Incorporation of Gold Nanoparticles onto Mesoporous Titanium Oxide Particles for Green Catalysts

This report describes the systematic incorporation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) onto mesoporous TiO2 (MPT) particles without strong attractive forces to efficiently serve as reactive and recyclable catalysts in the homocoupling of arylboronic acid in green reaction conditions. Unlike using nonporous TiO2 particles and conventional SiO2 particles as supporting materials, the employment of MPT particles significantly improves the loading efficiency of AuNPs. The incorporated AuNPs are less than 10 nm in diameter, regardless of the amount of applied gold ions, and their surfaces, free from any modifiers, act as highly reactive catalytic sites to notably improve the yields in the homocoupling reaction. The overall physical properties of the AuNPs integrated onto the MPT particles are thoroughly examined as functions of the gold content, and their catalytic functions, including the rate of reaction, activation energy, and recyclability, are also evaluated. While the rate of reaction slightly increases with the improved loading efficiency of AuNPs, the apparent activation energies do not clearly show any correlation with the size or distribution of the AuNPs under our reaction conditions. Understanding the formation of these types of composite particles and their catalytic functions could lead to the development of highly practical, quasi-homogeneous catalysts in environmentally friendly reaction conditions

Ultrathin, polarization-independent, and focus-tunable liquid crystal diffractive lens for augmented reality

Despite the recent advances in augmented reality (AR), which has shown the potential to significantly impact on our daily lives by offering a new way to manipulate and interact with virtual information, minimizing visual discomfort due to the vergence-accommodation conflict remains a challenge. Emerging AR technologies often exploit focus-tunable optics to address this problem. Although they demonstrated improved depth perception by enabling proper focus cues, a bulky form factor of focus-tunable optics prevents their use in the form of a pair of eyeglasses. Herein, we describe an ultrathin, focus-tunable liquid crystal (LC) diffractive lens with a large aperture, a low weight, and a low operating voltage. In addition, we show that the polarization dependence of the lens, which is an inherent optical property of LC lenses, can be eliminated using birefringent thin films as substrates and by aligning the optical axes of the birefringent substrates and LC at a specific angle. The polarization independence eliminates the need for a polarizer, thus further reducing the form factor of the optical system. Next, we demonstrate a prototype of AR glasses with addressable focal planes using the ultrathin lens. The prototype AR glasses can adjust the accommodation distance of the virtual image, mitigating the vergence-accommodation conflict without substantially compromising the form factor or image quality. This research on ultrathin lens technology shows promising potential for developing compact optical displays in various applications.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figure

Nonvolatile memory characteristics associated with oxygen ion exchange in thin-film transistors with indium-zinc oxide channel and HfO2-x gate oxide

Non-charge-storage-based nonvolatile memory characteristics associated with oxygen ion exchange are demonstrated in a thin-film transistor (TFT) composed of an indium-zinc oxide (IZO) channel and an oxygen-deficient HfO2???x gate oxide. A nonvolatile increase in drain current and a reduced threshold voltage are obtained upon application of positive gate voltage, with the opposite characteristics upon application of negative voltage. The device shows nonvolatile retention properties and suitable endurance properties after repeated operations. Modulation of channel conductance occurs as a results of oxygen ion exchange between the HfO2???x gate oxide and the IZO channel, which consequently alters the oxygen vacancy concentration in the IZO channel; these vacancies act as n-type dopants. For comparison, a device with a thin SiO2 layer inserted between the HfO2???x gate oxide and the IZO channel to prevent oxygen ion exchange shows only the increased threshold voltage upon application of a positive gate voltage as a result of electron charging. These results verify the conductance modulation mechanism associated with oxygen ion exchange at the interface of the HfO2???x gate oxide and the IZO channel. In addition, the nonvolatile memory characteristics of the device are indicative of its potential for non-charge-storage-based nonvolatile memory application

OF@TEIN: An OpenFlow-enabled SDN Testbed over International SmartX Rack Sites

In this paper, we will discuss our on-going effort for OF@TEIN SDN(Software-Defined Networking) testbed, which currently spans over Korea and fiveSouth-East Asian (SEA) collaborators with internationally deployed OpenFlowenabledSmartX Racks

Development of Soil Compaction Analysis Software (SCAN) Integrating a Low Cost GPS Receiver and Compactometer

A software for soil compaction analysis (SCAN) has been developed for evaluating the compaction states using the data from the GPS as well as a compactometer attached on the roller. The SCAN is distinguished from other previous software for intelligent compaction (IC) in that it can use the results from various types of GPS positioning methods, and it also has an optimal structure for remotely managing the large amounts of data gathered from numerous rollers. For this, several methods were developed: (1) improving the accuracy of low cost GPS receiver’s positioning results; (2) modeling the trajectory of a moving roller using a GPS receiver’s results and linking it with the data from the compactometer; and (3) extracting the information regarding the compaction states of the ground from the modeled trajectory, using spatial analysis methods. The SCAN was verified throughout various field compaction tests, and it has been confirmed that it can be a very effective tool in evaluating field compaction states

Gate-Tunable Reversible Rashba−Edelstein Effect in a Few-Layer Graphene/2H-TaS2 Heterostructure at Room Temperature

We report the observation of current-induced spin polarization, the Rashba−Edelstein effect (REE), and its Onsager reciprocal phenomenon, the spin galvanic effect (SGE), in a few-layer graphene/2H-TaS2 heterostructure at room temperature. Spin-sensitive electrical measurements unveil full spin-polarization reversal by an applied gate voltage. The observed gate-tunable charge-to-spin conversion is explained by the ideal work function mismatch between 2H-TaS2 and graphene, which allows for a strong interface-induced Bychkov−Rashba interaction with a spin-gap reaching 70 meV, while keeping the Dirac nature of the spectrum intact across electron and hole sectors. The reversible electrical generation and control of the nonequilibrium spin polarization vector, not previously observed in a nonmagnetic material, are elegant manifestations of emergent two-dimensional Dirac Fermions with robust spin-helical structure. Our experimental findings, supported by first-principles relativistic electronic structure and transport calculations, demonstrate a route to design low-power spin−logic circuits from layered materials