The advent of microcomputers in the 1970s has dramatically changed our society. Since then, microprocessors have been made almost exclusively from silicon, but the ever-increasing demand for higher integration density and speed, lower power consumption and better integrability with everyday goods has prompted the search for alternatives. Germanium and III–V compound semiconductors are being considered promising candidates for future high-performance processor generations and chips based on thin-film plastic technology or carbon nanotubes could allow for embedding electronic intelligence into arbitrary objects for the Internet-of-Things. Here, we present a 1-bit implementation of a microprocessor using a two-dimensional semiconductor—molybdenum disulfide. The device can execute user-defined programs stored in an external memory, perform logical operations and communicate with its periphery. Our 1-bit design is readily scalable to multi-bit data. The device consists of 115 transistors and constitutes the most complex circuitry so far made from a two-dimensional material.
Strain engineering is widely used in material science to tune the (opto-)electronic properties of materials and enhance the performance of devices. Two-dimensional atomic crystals are a versatile playground to study the influence of strain, as they can sustain very large deformations without breaking. Various optical techniques have been employed to probe strain in two-dimensional materials, including micro-Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Here we demonstrate that optical second harmonic generation constitutes an even more powerful technique, as it allows extraction of the full strain tensor with a spatial resolution below the optical diffraction limit. Our method is based on the strain-induced modification of the nonlinear susceptibility tensor due to a photoelastic effect. Using a two-point bending technique, we determine the photoelastic tensor elements of molybdenum disulfide. Once identified, these parameters allow us to spatially image the two-dimensional strain field in an inhomogeneously strained sample.
While digital electronics has become entirely ubiquitous in today's world and appears in the limelight, analogue electronics is still playing a crucial role in many devices and applications. Current analogue circuits are mostly manufactured using silicon as active material, but the ever present demand for improved performance, new devices and flexible integration has -similar to their digital counterparts -pushed for research into alternative materials. In recent years two-dimensional materials have received considerable research interest, fitting their promising properties for future electronics. In this work we demonstrate an operational amplifier -a basic building block of analogue electronics -using a two-dimensional semiconductor, namely molybdenum disulfide, as active material. Our device is capable of stable operation with good performance, and we demonstrate its use in feedback circuits such as inverting amplifiers, integrators, log amplifiers, and transimpedance amplifiers.At a system level, electronic devices can be characterized as either analogue or digital. While digital electronics works by using strictly defined, discrete signal values -0 and 1 -in analogue electronics a signal can take any physically available level. Although the incredible increase in performance/price ratio of digital circuits has made many kinds of analogue circuits obsolete, there is still significant demand for analogue electronics in today's world.As with their digital counterparts, manufacturing of analogue electronics is still mostly done on silicon, but also here the never ceasing demand for higher performance, new kinds of devices and different, flexible integration is pushing research into new materials [1][2][3][4] . Two-
Nanomagnet logic (NML) is a relatively
new computation technology
that uses arrays of shape-controlled nanomagnets to enable digital
processing. Currently, conventional resist-based lithographic processes
limit the design of NML circuitry to planar nanostructures with homogeneous
thicknesses. Here, we demonstrate the focused electron beam induced
deposition of Fe-based nanomaterial for magnetic in-plane nanowires
and out-of-plane nanopillars. Three-dimensional (3D) NML was achieved
based on the magnetic coupling between nanowires and nanopillars in
a 3D array. Additionally, the same Fe-based nanomaterial was used
to produce tilt-corrected high-aspect-ratio probes for the accurate
magnetic force microscopy (MFM) analysis of the fabricated 3D NML
gate arrays. The interpretation of the MFM measurements was supported
by magnetic simulations using the Object Oriented MicroMagnetic Framework.
Introducing vertical out-of-plane nanopillars not only increases the
packing density of 3D NML but also introduces an extra magnetic degree
of freedom, offering a new approach to input/output and processing
functionalities in nanomagnetic computing.
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