arXiv subjects

L. K. Ang

Publications and source records attributed to L. K. Ang.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Ultralow p-type contact resistance for ultra-nanoscaled 2D-materials transistors

High contact resistance is one of the main bottlenecks for practical two-dimensional (2D) materials transistors, especially for p-type transistors and future 2D ultra-nanoscaled (sub-10 nm) FETs (PMOS + CMOS). We develop self-consistent contact resistance models for metal-2D semiconductor-metal devices to capture the essential interface physics for both vertical and edge configurations. Our calculations have been verified with various recent experiments of p-type and n-type contacts. For a given set of materials, the model determines the scaling of contact resistance over a wide range of device parameters including channel length (100s nm down to sub-10 nm), doping and mobility of the 2D materials, contact length of the electrodes, and applied voltages. These results identify the key factors in order to reduce the contact resistance for p-type 2D semiconductor WSe$_2$ towards the sub-10 nm channel length scale that are readily to be realized by future experiments. It is found that the effect of source-limited current saturation is the key challenge for down scaling 2D FET to sub-10 nm channel length. Two topological semi-metals as potential electrodes are proposed for 2D p-type semiconducting WSe$_2$ with our predicted contact resistance $R_c<$ 100 $\Omega \; {\rm \mu m}$ approaching the quantum limit. Our model is also verified with the computational expensive full quantum atomistic model that is currently limited to a few nm scale.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Computational Design of Two-Dimensional MoSi$_2$N$_4$ Family Field-Effect Transistor for Future \AA ngstr\"om-Scale CMOS Technology Nodes

Advancing complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology into the sub-1-nm angstr\"om-scale technology nodes is expected to involve alternative semiconductor channel materials, as silicon transistors encounter severe performance degradation at physical gate lengths below 10 nm. Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors have emerged as strong candidates for overcoming short-channel effects due to their atomically thin bodies, which inherently suppress electrostatic leakage and improve gate control in aggressively scaled field-effect transistors (FETs). Among the growing library of 2D materials, the MoSi$_2$N$_4$ family -- a synthetic septuple-layered materials -- has attracted increasing attention for its remarkable ambient stability, suitable bandgaps, and favorable carrier transport characteristics, making it a promising platform for next-generation transistors. While experimental realization of sub-10-nm 2D FETs remains technologically demanding, computational device simulation using first-principles density functional theory combined with nonequilibrium Green's function transport simulations provide a powerful and cost-effective route for exploring the performance limits and optimal design of ultrascaled FET. This review consolidates the current progress in the computational design of MoSi$_2$N$_4$ family FETs. We review the physical properties of MoSi$_2$N$_4$ that makes them compelling candidates for transistor applications, as well as the simulated device performance and optimization strategy of MoSi$_2$N$_4$ family FETs. Finally, we identify key challenges and research gaps, and outline future directions that could accelerate the practical deployment of MoSi$_2$N$_4$ family FET in the angstr\"om-scale CMOS era.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Pressure-Driven Metallicity in {\AA}ngstr\"om-Thickness 2D Bismuth and Layer-Selective Ohmic Contact to MoS2

Recent fabrication of two-dimensional (2D) metallic bismuth (Bi) via van der Waals (vdW) squeezing method opens a new avenue to ultrascaling metallic materials into the {\aa}ngstr\"om-thickness regime [Nature 639, 354 (2025)]. However, freestanding 2D Bi is typically known to exhibit a semiconducting phase [Nature 617, 67 (2023), Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 236801 (2023)], which contradicts with the experimentally observed metallicity in vdW-squeezed 2D Bi. Here we show that such discrepancy originates from the pressure-induced buckled-to-flat structural transition in 2D Bi, which changes the electronic structure from semiconducting to metallic phases. Based on the experimentally fabricated MoS2-Bi-MoS2 trilayer heterostructure, we demonstrate the concept of layer-selective Ohmic contact in which one MoS2 layer forms Ohmic contact to the sandwiched Bi monolayer while the opposite MoS2 layer exhibits a Schottky barrier. The Ohmic contact can be switched between the two sandwiching MoS2 monolayers by changing the polarity of an external gate field, thus enabling charge to be spatially injected into different MoS2 layers. The layer-selective Ohmic contact proposed here represents a layertronic generalization of metal/semiconductor contact, paving a way towards layertronic device application.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Over-Barrier Photoelectron Emission with Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling

We develop a theoretical model to calculate the quantum efficiency (QE) of photoelectron emission from materials with Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC) effect. In the low temperature limit, an analytical scaling between QE and the RSOC strength is obtained as QE $\propto (\hbarω-W)^2+2E_R(\hbar ω-W) -E_R^2/3$, where $\hbarω$, $W$ and $E_R$ are the incident photon energy, work function and the RSOC parameter respectively. Intriguingly, the RSOC effect substantially improves the QE for strong RSOC materials. For example, the QE of Bi$_2$Se$_3$ and Bi/Si(111) increases, by 149\% and 122\%, respectively due to the presence of strong RSOC. By fitting to the photoelectron emission characteristics, the analytical scaling law can be employed to extract the RSOC strength, thus offering a useful tool to characterize the RSOC effect in materials. Importantly, when the traditional Fowler-Dubridge model is used, the extracted results may substantially deviate from the actual values by $\sim90\%$, thus highlighting the importance of employing our model to analyse the photoelectron emission especially for materials with strong RSOC. These findings provide a theoretical foundation for the design of photoemitters using Rashba spintronic materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Analytical model of space charge current for a cylindrical porous trap-limited dielectric

In this study, analytical models for space charge limited current (SCLC) transport in a porous (or disordered) trap-limited dielectric are derived for both planar and cylindrical configuration. By considering the porous solid as a fractional object characterized by a parameter a less than 1, we formulate its fractional capacitance and determine the SCLC transport by using the transit time approach. At a equal to 1, it will recover the well-known Mott Gurney (MG) law and Mark Helfrich (MH) law for trap-free and trap-limited cases, respectively. For cylindrical geometry, our findings show an analytical form that is not available from the traditional methods. We anticipate the proposed analytical model will serve as a useful tool for characterizing the current-voltage measurements in SCLC transport in dielectric breakdown and organic electronics, where spatial porosity of the materials is inevitable. The introduced fractional parameter a extracted from such characterization can facilitate the quantitative determination of the relationship between spatial porosity and charge mobility.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2023

Designer Edge States in Fractional Polarization Insulators

We theoretically investigated the topological-protected edge states (TESs) in an anisotropic honeycomb lattice with mirror and chiral symmetries, characterized by an alternative topological invariant - fractional polarization (FP), rather than the conventional Chern number. This system termed an FP insulator is a potential platform for edge-state engineering due to its disconnected TESs. These disconnected and robust TESs are susceptible to perturbative chiral symmetry-breaking terms which can generate various patterns including the vanishing helical, spin-polarized, and chiral TESs. Moreover, helical and chiral TES can be achieved by the finite size effect, not possible from the aforementioned terms alone. The demonstration of these various TES in an FP-insulator offers an alternative route in designing reconfigurable two-dimensional nanoelectronic devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Universal model for electron thermal-field emission from two-dimensional semimetals

We present the theory of out-of-plane (or vertical) electron thermal-field emission from 2D semimetals. We show that the current-voltage-temperature characteristic is well-captured by a universal scaling relation applicable for broad classes of 2D semimetals, including graphene and its few-layer, nodal point semimetal, Dirac semimetal at the verge of topological phase transition and nodal line semimetal. Here an important consequence of the universal emission behavior is revealed: in contrast to the common expectation that band topology shall manifest differently in the physical observables, band topologies in two spatial dimension are indistinguishable from each others and bear no special signature in the electron emission characteristics. Our findings represent the quantum extension of the universal semiclassical thermionic emission scaling law in 2D materials, and provide the theoretical foundations for the understanding of electron emission from cathode and charge interface transport for the design of 2D-material-based vacuum nanoelectronics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Universal Model of Optical-Field Electron Tunneling from Two-Dimensional Materials

We develop analytical models of optical-field electron tunneling from the edge and surface of two-dimensional (2D) materials, including the effects of reduced dimensionality, non-parabolic energy dispersion, band anisotropy, quasi-time dependent tunneling and emission dynamics indueced by the laser field. We discover a universal scaling between the tunneling current density $J$ and the laser electric field $F$: In($J/|F|^β)\propto1/|F|$ with $β= 3 / 2$ in the edge emission and $β= 1$ in the vertical surface emission, which both are distinctive from the traditional Fowler-Nordheim (FN) model of $β= 2$. The current density exhibits an unexpected high-field saturation effect due to the reduced dimensionality of 2D materials, which is completely different from the space-charge saturation commonly observed in traditional bulk materials. Our results reveal the dc bias as an efficient method in modulating the optical-field tunneling sub-optical-cycle emission characteristics. Importantly, our model is in excellent agreement with a recent experiment on graphene. Our findings offer a theoretical foundation for the understanding of optical-field tunneling emission from the 2D material system, which is useful for the development of 2D-material based optoelectronics and vacuum nanoelectronics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Quantum Shot Noise Signatures of Two-Dimensional Semi-Dirac System

Two-dimensional ($2$D) semi-Dirac systems, such as $2$D black phosphorus and arsenene, can exhibit a rich topological phase transition between insulating, semi-Dirac, and band inversion phases when subjected to an external modulation. How these phase transitions manifest within the quantum transport and shot noise signatures remain an open question thus far. Here, we show that the Fano factor converges to the universal $F\approx0.179$ at the semi-Dirac phase, and transits between the sub-Poissonian ($F\approx1/3$) and the Poissonian shot noise ($F\approx1$) limit at the band inversion and the insulating phase, respectively. Furthermore, the conductance of $2$D semi-Dirac system converges to the contrasting limit of $G/G_0 \rightarrow 1/d$ and $G/G_0 \rightarrow0$ at the band inversion and the insulating phases, respectively. The quantum tunneling spectra exhibits a peculiar coexistence of massless and massive Dirac quasiparticles in the band inversion regime, thus providing a versatile sandbox to study the tunneling behavior of various Dirac quasiparticles. These findings reveal the rich interplay between band topology and quantum transport signatures, which may serve as smoking gun signatures for the experimental studies of semi-Dirac systems near topological phase transition.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Approaching intrinsic threshold breakdown voltage and ultra-high gain in graphite/InSe Schottky photodetector

Realizing both ultra-low breakdown voltage and ultra-high gain has been one of the major challenges in the development of high-performance avalanche photodetector. Here, we report that an ultra-high avalanche gain of 3*10^5 can be realized in the graphite/InSe Schottky photodetector at a breakdown voltage down to 5.5 V. Remarkably, the threshold breakdown voltage can be further reduced down to 1.8 V by raising the operating temperature, approaching the theoretical limit of 1.5E_g/e with E_g the band gap of semiconductor. We develop a two-dimensional impact ionization model and uncover that observation of high gain at low breakdown voltage arises from reduced dimensionality of electron-phonon (e-ph) scattering in the layered InSe flake. Our findings open up a promising avenue for developing novel weak-light detectors with low energy consumption and high sensitivity.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2022

Lanthanum Oxyhalide Monolayers: An Exceptional Dielectric Companion to Two-Dimensional Semiconductors

Two-dimensional (2D) layered dielectrics offers a compelling route towards the design of next-generation ultimately compact nanoelectronics. Motivated by recent high-throughput computational prediction of LaO$X$ ($X$ = Br, Cl) as an exceptional 2D dielectrics that significantly outperforms HfO$_2$ even in the monolyaer limit, we investigate the interface properties between LaOX and the archetypal 2D semiconductors of monolayer transition metal dichacolgenides (TMDCs) $M$S$_2$ ($M$ = Mo, W) using first-principle density functional theory simulations. We show that LaO$X$ monolayers interacts weakly with $M$S$_2$ via van der Waals forces with negligible hybridization and interfacial charge transfer, thus conveniently preserving the electronic properties of 2D TMDCs upon contact formation. The conduction and valance band offsets of the interfaces exhibit a sizable value ranging from 0.7 to 1.4 eV, suggesting the capability of LaO$X$ as a gate dielectric materials. Based on Murphy-Good electron emission model, we demonstrate that LaOCl/MoS$_2$ is a versatile dielectric/semiconductor combinations that are compatible to both NMOS and PMOS applications with leakage current lower than $10^{-7}$ Acm$^{-2}$, while LaO$X$/WS$_2$ is generally compatible with PMOS application. The presence of an interfacial tunneling potential barrier at the van der Waals gap further provide an additional mechanism to suppress the leakage current. Our findings reveal the role LaO$X$ as an excellent dielectric companion to 2D TMDC and shall provide useful insights for leveraging the dielectric strength of LaO$X$ in the design of high-performance 2D nanodevices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Quantum interference between fundamentally different processes is enabled by shaped input wavefunctions

We present a general framework for quantum interference (QI) between multiple, fundamentally different processes. Our framework reveals the importance of shaped input wavefunctions in enabling QI, and predicts unprecedented interactions between free electrons, bound electrons, and photons: (i) the vanishing of the zero-loss peak by destructive QI when a shaped electron wavepacket couples to light, under conditions where the electron's zero-loss peak otherwise dominates; (ii) QI between free electron and atomic (bound electron) spontaneous emission processes, which can be significant even when the free electron and atom are far apart, breaking the common notion that electron and atom must be close by to significantly affect each other's processes. Our work shows that emerging quantum waveshaping techniques unlock the door to greater versatility in light-matter interactions and other quantum processes in general.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Stack operation of tensor networks

The tensor network, as a facterization of tensors, aims at performing the operations that are common for normal tensors, such as addition, contraction and stacking. However, due to its non-unique network structure, only the tensor network contraction is so far well defined. In this paper, we propose a mathematically rigorous definition for the tensor network stack approach, that compress a large amount of tensor networks into a single one without changing their structures and configurations. We illustrate the main ideas with the matrix product states based machine learning as an example. Our results are compared with the for loop and the efficient coding method on both CPU and GPU.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2022

Multiferroic van der Waals heterostructure FeCl$_2$/Sc$_2$CO$_2$: Nonvolatile electrically switchable electronic and spintronic properties

Multiferroic van der Waals (vdW) heterostrucutres offers an exciting route towards novel nanoelectronics and spintronics device technology. Here we investigate the electronic and transport properties of multiferroic vdW heterostructure composed of ferromagnetic FeCl$_2$ monolayer and ferroelectric Sc$_2$CO$_2$ monolayer using first-principles density functional theory and quantum transport simulations. We show that FeCl$_2$/Sc$_2$CO$_2$ heterostructure can be reversibly switched from semiconducting to half-metallic behavior by electrically modulating the ferroelectric polarization states of Sc$_2$CO$_2$. Intriguingly, the half-metallic phase exhibits a Type-III broken gap band alignment, which can be beneficial for tunnelling field-effect transistor application. We perform a quantum transport simulation, based on a \emph{proof-of-concept} two-terminal nanodevice, to demonstrate all-electric-controlled valving effects uniquely enabled by the nonvolatile ferroelectric switching of the heterostructure. These findings unravels the potential of FeCl$_2$/Sc$_2$CO$_2$ vdW heterostructures as a building block for designing a next generation of ultimately compact information processing, data storage and spintronics devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Modeling of electric double layer at solid-liquid interface with spatial complexity

Electrical double layer (EDL) is formed when an electrode is in contact with an electrolyte solution, and is widely used in biophysics, electrochemistry, polymer solution and energy storage. Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) coupled equations provides the foundational framework for modeling electrical potential and charge distribution at EDL. In this work, based on fractional calculus, we reformulate the PB equations (with and without steric effects) by introducing a phenomenal parameter $D$ (with a value between 0 and 1) to account for the spatial complexity due to impurities in EDL. The electrical potential and ion charge distribution for different $D$ are investigated. At $D$ = 1, the model recover the classical findings of ideal EDL. The electrical potential decays slowly at $D <$1, thus suggesting a wider region of saturated layer under fixed surface potential in the presence of spatial complexity. The fractional-space generalized model developed here provides a useful tool to account for spatial complexity effects which are not captured in the classic full-dimensional models.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

SUTD-PRCM Dataset and Neural Architecture Search Approach for Complex Metasurface Design

Metasurfaces have received a lot of attentions recently due to their versatile capability in manipulating electromagnetic wave. Advanced designs to satisfy multiple objectives with non-linear constraints have motivated researchers in using machine learning (ML) techniques like deep learning (DL) for accelerated design of metasurfaces. For metasurfaces, it is difficult to make quantitative comparisons between different ML models without having a common and yet complex dataset used in many disciplines like image classification. Many studies were directed to a relatively constrained datasets that are limited to specified patterns or shapes in metasurfaces. In this paper, we present our SUTD polarized reflection of complex metasurfaces (SUTD-PRCM) dataset, which contains approximately 260,000 samples of complex metasurfaces created from electromagnetic simulation, and it has been used to benchmark our DL models. The metasurface patterns are divided into different classes to facilitate different degree of complexity, which involves identifying and exploiting the relationship between the patterns and the electromagnetic responses that can be compared in using different DL models. With the release of this SUTD-PRCM dataset, we hope that it will be useful for benchmarking existing or future DL models developed in the ML community. We also propose a classification problem that is less encountered and apply neural architecture search to have a preliminary understanding of potential modification to the neural architecture that will improve the prediction by DL models. Our finding shows that convolution stacking is not the dominant element of the neural architecture anymore, which implies that low-level features are preferred over the traditional deep hierarchical high-level features thus explains why deep convolutional neural network based models are not performing well in our dataset.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2022

Tunable electronic properties and band alignments of MoSi$_2$N$_4$/GaN and MoSi$_2$N$_4$/ZnO van der Waals heterostructures

Van de Waals heterostructures (VDWH) is an emerging strategy to engineer the electronic properties of two-dimensional (2D) material systems. Motivated by the recent discovery of MoSi$_2$N$_4$ - a synthetic septuple-layered 2D semiconductor with exceptional mechanical and electronic properties, we investigate the synergy of \ce{MoSi2N4} with wide band gap (WBG) 2D monolayers of GaN and ZnO using first-principle calculations. We find that MoSi$_2$N$_4$/GaN is a direct band gap Type-I VDWH while MoSi$_2$N$_4$/ZnO is an indirect band gap Type-II VDWH. Intriguingly, by applying an electric field or mechanical strain along the out-of-plane direction, the band structures of MoSi$_2$N$_4$/GaN and MoSi$_2$N$_4$/ZnO can be substantially modified, exhibiting rich transitional behaviors, such as the Type-I-to-Type-II band alignment and the direct-to-indirect band gap transitions. These findings reveal the potentials of MoSi$_2$N$_4$-based WBG VDWH as a tunable hybrid materials with enormous design flexibility in ultracompact optoelectronic applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2021

Deep learning-based design of broadband GHz complex and random metasurfaces

We are interested to explore the limit in using deep learning (DL) to study the electromagnetic response for complex and random metasurfaces, without any specific applications in mind. For simplicity, we focus on a simple pure reflection problem of a broadband electromagnetic (EM) plane wave incident normally on such complex metasurfaces in the frequency regime of 2 to 12 GHz. In doing so, we create a deep learning (DL) based framework called metasurface design deep convolutional neural network (MSDCNN) for both the forward and inverse design of three different classes of complex metasurfaces: (a) Arbitrary connecting polygons, (b) Basic pattern combination, and (c) Fully random binary patterns. The performance of each metasurface is evaluated and cross-benchmarked. Dependent on the type of complex metasurfaces, sample size, and DL algorithms used, MSDCNN is able to provide good agreements and can be a faster design tool for complex metasurfaces as compared to the traditional full-wave electromagnetic simulation methods. However, no single universal deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) model can work well for all metasurface classes based on detailed statistical analysis (such as mean, variance, kurtosis, mean squared error). Our findings report important information on the advantages and limitation of current DL models in designing these ultimately complex metasurfaces.

eess.SP↗