Heterostructures of low dimensional materials for electronic, spintronic and sensor applications

By pushing a button on your keyboard, you send the stored energy in the battery into some circuits of your computer in the form of an electrical current. In a low resistance circuit, the current can pass (one), while in a high resistance circuit, the current cannot pass (zero). Data saving and processing in computers is performed by manipulation of the zeros and ones, which is realized through controlling the resistance states of the circuits. Being able to change the resistance state of circuits at high speed, with low energy consumption and in a small space is important for building better computers for the future. In my thesis, I studied different heterostructures of low dimensional materials for which the resistance can be changed by an electric current via physical or chemical tuning of their structure. Such a resistance change of the heterostructures through different external factors can also be exploited for sensor functions, which I investigate in the thesis.