Chen Junrui, Bhardwaj Kapil, Carrara Sandro
Bio/CMOS Interfaces Lab, Institute of Electrical and Micro Engineering, Engineering Faculty, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Rue de la Maladiere 71b, Neuchatel, 2000, Switzerland.
Nanoscale. 2025 Apr 3;17(14):8660-8671. doi: 10.1039/d5nr00104h.
Memristors are garnering significant attention due to their high similarity to biological neurons and synapses, alongside their unique physical mechanisms. Biosensors exhibiting memristive behaviour have demonstrated substantial efficacy in detecting therapeutic and biological compounds in the past decade. This report investigates silicon nanowire (SiNW)-based devices incorporating Schottky barriers, which exhibit potential for memristive behaviour. The SiNWs are fabricated between two nickel (Ni) pads, defined as 1.5 μm in length and 90 nm in width, then forming a quasi-one-dimensional (1D) back-to-back Schottky diode structure due to their large aspect ratio. After oxygen plasma treatment of the SiNW, this back-to-back diode structure begins to exhibit memristive behaviour. Our experimental data indicate that this behaviour is induced by superficial oxygen along the SiNW and is influenced by the contacts within the Schottky barrier and the intermediate silicon oxide layer. Furthermore, we have developed a mathematical model derived from the thermal emission equation of Schottky diodes to accurately characterize and understand this memristive behaviour. Thanks to this model, it is possible to accurately fine-tune the design of memristive devices for application in neuromorphic computing and memristive biosensing.
忆阻器因其与生物神经元和突触的高度相似性以及独特的物理机制而备受关注。在过去十年中，具有忆阻行为的生物传感器在检测治疗性和生物化合物方面已显示出显著功效。本报告研究了基于硅纳米线（SiNW）并结合肖特基势垒的器件，这些器件展现出忆阻行为的潜力。SiNWs被制备在两个镍（Ni）焊盘之间，长度定义为1.5μm，宽度为90nm，由于其大的纵横比，形成了准一维（1D）背靠背肖特基二极管结构。在对SiNW进行氧等离子体处理后，这种背靠背二极管结构开始展现出忆阻行为。我们的实验数据表明，这种行为是由沿SiNW的表面氧诱导的，并且受到肖特基势垒内的接触以及中间氧化硅层的影响。此外，我们从肖特基二极管的热发射方程推导出了一个数学模型，以准确表征和理解这种忆阻行为。借助这个模型，有可能精确微调忆阻器件的设计，以应用于神经形态计算和忆阻生物传感。
