Integration of van der Waals Heterostructures with Programmable Ferroelectric Thin Films

We present the ability to modulate the electronic properties of van der Waals heterostructures with high resolution ferroelectric programming as a novel pathway to the realization of a solid-state 2D quantum simulator. Using a precision ultra-low voltage electron beam lithography technique to switch the polarization of ferroelectric Al1-xBxN ferroelectricity at the nanoscale, sub-micron ferroelectric domains are patterned on Al1-xBxN thin films. We demonstrate this programmability by the induced ferroelectric field effect on a graphene/AlBN device, where the manipulation of ferroelectric polarization is used to create a p-n junction in the graphene layer. We discuss some of the complications in fabrication of high-quality devices that integrate 2D heterostructures with ferroelectric thin film substrates.