Effects of Group IVA Elements on the Electrical Response of a Ge2Se3-Based Optically Gated Transistor

Abstract

The optically gated transistor (OGT) has been previously demonstrated as a viable selector device for memristor devices, and may enable optical addressing within cross-point arrays. The OGT current–voltage response is similar to a MOSFET device, with light activating the gate instead of voltage. The OGT also provides a naturally built-in compliance current for a series resistive memory element, determined by the incident light intensity on the gate, thus keeping the integrated periphery circuitry size and complexity to a minimum for a memory array. The OGT gate comprises an amorphous Ge2Se3 material that can readily be doped with other elements to alter the transistor’s electrical properties. In this work, we explore the operation of the OGT when the Ge2Se3 gate material is doped with the Group IVA elements C, Si, Sn, and Pb. The dopant atoms provide changes to the optical and electrical properties that allow key electrical properties such as the dark current, photocurrent, switching speed, and threshold voltage to be tuned.