Negative Differential Resistance in Carbon-Based Nanostructures

TL;DR

This paper reports the observation and modeling of negative differential resistance in graphene-like nanostructures, highlighting the role of self-heating and temperature dependence, with implications for nanoscale electronic devices.

Contribution

It demonstrates NDR behavior in randomly oriented graphene-like nanostructures up to 37 K and models the effects of self-heating on their electrical properties.

Findings

NDR observed up to 37 K with high current density

Self-heating effects significantly influence NDR behavior

Temperature-dependent resistance explains nonlinear electrical characteristics

Abstract

Nonlinear electrical properties, such as negative differential resistance (NDR), are essential in numerous electrical circuits, including memristors. Several physical origins have been proposed to lead to the NDR phenomena in semiconductor devices in the last more than half a century. Here, we report NDR behavior formation in randomly oriented graphene-like nanostructures up to 37 K and high on-current density up to 10^5 A/cm^2. Our modeling of the current-voltage characteristics, including the self-heating effects, suggests that strong temperature dependence of the low-bias resistance is responsible for the nonlinear electrical behavior. Our findings open opportunities for the practical realization of the on-demand NDR behavior in nanostructures of 2D and 3D material-based devices via heat management in the conducting films and the underlying substrates.