title: Piezotronic Effect in Strain-Gated Transistor of a-Axis GaN Nanobelt.
abstract: Due to the non-centrosymmetric crystal structures, wurtzite family semiconducting materials possess piezoelectric properties and exhibit polarizations along certain directions upon straining. Utilizing strain-induced piezoelectric polarization charges to modulate the energy band structures and thus to tune/control the transport processes of charge carriers is referred to as the piezotronic effect. Distinct from the previous studies of c-axis GaN nanowires, here we systematically study the piezotronic-effect-induced modifications of energy band structures and the corresponding influence on electronic transport properties of a-axis GaN nanobelts. The physical mechanism is carefully illustrated and further confirmed by theoretical simulations via finite element analysis. The spatial distributions of local carrier concentration and the energy band diagrams of a-axis GaN under various straining conditions are calculated. This work provides a thorough understanding of strain-gated transport properties of a-axis GaN piezotronic transistors and its future applications in semiconductor devices.
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0245, United States.
authors.forename: Ruomeng
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0245, United States.
authors.forename: Xingfu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0245, United States.
authors.forename: Wenbo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0245, United States.
authors.forename: Wenzhuo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0245, United States.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Engineering Research Center of Optoelectronic Functional Materials and Devices, Institute of Opto-Electronic Materials and Technology, South China Normal University , 510631 Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Shuti
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0245, United States.|Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 100083 Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhong Lin
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: GaN; a-axis; piezotronic effect; strain-gated; transistor