Two-dimensional complementary gate-programmable PN junctions for reconfigurable rectifier circuit

The unique features of ambipolar two-dimensional materials open up a great opportunity to build gate-programmable devices for reconfigurable circuit applications, e.g., PN junctions for rectifier circuits. However, current-reported rectifier circuits usually consist of one gate-programmable PN junction as the rectifier and one resistor as the load, which are not conductive to voltage output and large-scale integration. Here we propose an approach of complementary gate-programmable PN junctions to assemble reconfigurable rectifier circuit, which include two symmetric back-to-back black phosphorus (BP)/hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)/graphene heterostructured semi-gate field-effect transistors (FETs) and perform complementary NP and PN junction like complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuit. The investigation exhibits that the circuit can effectively reconfigure the circuit with/without rectifying ability, and can process alternating current (AC) signals with the frequency prior 1 KHz and reconfiguration speed up to 25 μs. We also achieve the reconfigurable rectifier circuit memory via complementary semi-floating gate FETs configuration. The complementary configuration here should be of low output impedance and low static power consumption, being beneficial for effective voltage output and large-scale integration.