Mechanical Modulation of 2D Electronic Devices at Atto-Joule Energy via Flexotronic Effect

In addition to electrical, optical, and magnetic fields, mechanical forces have demonstrated a strong ability to modulate semiconductor devices. With the rapid development of piezotronics and flexotronics, force regulation has been widely used in field-effect transistors (FETs), human-machine interfaces, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), solar cells, etc. Here, a large mechanical modulation of electronic properties by nano-Newton force in semiconductor materials with a large Young's modulus-based force FET is reported. More importantly, this FET has ultralow switching energy dissipation (7 aJ per decuple current gain) and nearly zero leakage power; these values are even better than those of electronic FETs. This finding paves the way for practical applications of nanoforce modulation devices at high power efficiency.

Automated summary

In addition to electrical, optical, and magnetic fields, mechanical forces have shown a strong ability to modulate semiconductor devices. This study reports a large mechanical modulation of electronic properties in semiconductor materials with a large Young's modulus-based force FET. The FET exhibits ultralow switching energy dissipation and almost zero leakage power, surpassing the performance of electronic FETs. These findings pave the way for practical applications of high-power efficiency nanoforce modulation devices.