Understanding Coulomb Scattering Mechanism in Monolayer MoS2 Channel in the Presence of h-BN Buffer Layer

Determining the Electron Scattering from Interfacial Coulomb Scatterers in Two-Dimensional Transistors

Two-dimensional (2D) transistors are promising for potential applications in next-generation semiconductor chips. Owing to the atomically thin thickness of 2D materials, the carrier scattering from interfacial Coulomb scatterers greatly suppresses the carrier mobility and hampers transistor performance. However, a feasible method to quantitatively determine relevant Coulomb scattering parameters from interfacial long-range scatterers is largely lacking. Here, we demonstrate a method to determine the Coulomb scattering strength and the density of Coulomb scattering centers in InSe transistors by comprehensively analyzing the low-frequency noise and transport characteristics. Moreover, the relative contributions from long-range and short-range scattering in the InSe transistors can be distinguished. This method is employed to make InSe transistors consisting of various interfaces a model system, revealing the profound effects of different scattering sources on transport characteristics and low-frequency noise. Quantitatively accessing the scattering parameters of 2D transistors provides valuable insight into engineering the interfaces of a wide spectrum of ultrathin-body transistors for high-performance electronics.

Vertically grown ultrathin Bi2SiO5 as high-κ single-crystalline gate dielectric

Single-crystalline high-κ dielectric materials are desired for the development of future two-dimensional (2D) electronic devices. However, curent 2D gate insulators still face challenges, such as insufficient dielectric constant and difficult to obtain free-standing and transferrable ultrathin films. Here, we demonstrate that ultrathin Bi₂SiO₅ crystals grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) can serve as excellent gate dielectric layers for 2D semiconductors, showing a high dielectric constant (>30) and large band gap (~3.8 eV). Unlike other 2D insulators synthesized via in-plane CVD on substrates, vertically grown Bi₂SiO₅ can be easily transferred onto other substrates by polymer-free mechanical pressing, which greatly facilitates its ideal van der Waals integration with few-layer MoS₂ as high-κ dielectrics and screening layers. The Bi₂SiO₅ gated MoS₂ field-effect transistors exhibit an ignorable hysteresis (~3 mV) and low drain induced barrier lowering (~5 mV/V). Our work suggests vertically grown Bi₂SiO₅ nanoflakes as promising candidates to improve the performance of 2D electronic devices.

Enhanced Interlayer Charge Injection Efficiency in 2D Multilayer ReS2 via Vertical Double-Side Contacts

Two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) layered materials have provided novel opportunities to explore interesting physical properties such as thickness-dependent bandgap, moiré excitons, superconductivity, and superfluidity. However, the presence of interlayer resistance along the thickness and Schottky barrier in metal-to-2D vdW semiconducting materials causes a limited interlayer charge injection efficiency, perturbing various intrinsic properties of 2D vdW multilayers. Herein, we report a simple but powerful contact electrode design to enhance interlayer carrier injection efficiency along the thickness by constructing vertical double-side contact (VDC) electrodes. A 2-fold extended contact area of VDC not only strongly limits an interlayer resistance contribution to the field-effect mobility and current density at the metal-to-2D semiconductor interface but also significantly suppresses both current transfer length (≤1 μm) and specific contact resistivity (≤1 mΩ·cm²), manifesting clear benefits of VDC in comparison with those in conventional top-contact and bottom-contact configurations. Our layout for contact electrode configuration may suggest an advanced electronic device platform for high-performing 2D optoelectronic devices.

Combining Freestanding Ferroelectric Perovskite Oxides with Two-Dimensional Semiconductors for High Performance Transistors

We demonstrate the fabrication of field-effect transistors based on single-layer MoS₂ and a thin layer of BaTiO₃ (BTO) dielectric, isolated from its parent epitaxial template substrate. Thin BTO provides an ultrahigh-κ gate dielectric effectively screening Coulomb scattering centers. These devices show mobilities substantially larger than those obtained with standard SiO₂ dielectrics and comparable with values obtained with hexagonal boron nitride, a dielectric employed for fabrication of high-performance two-dimensional (2D) based devices. Moreover, the ferroelectric character of BTO induces a robust hysteresis of the current vs gate voltage characteristics, attributed to its polarization switching. This hysteresis is strongly suppressed when the device is warmed up above the tetragonal-to-cubic transition temperature of BTO that leads to a ferroelectric-to-paraelectric transition. This hysteretic behavior is attractive for applications in memory storage devices. Our results open the door to the integration of a large family of complex oxides exhibiting strongly correlated physics in 2D-based devices.

2D III-Nitride Materials: Properties, Growth, and Applications

2D III-nitride materials have been receiving considerable attention recently due to their excellent physicochemical properties, such as high stability, wide and tunable bandgap, and magnetism. Therefore, 2D III-nitride materials can be applied in various fields, such as electronic and photoelectric devices, spin-based devices, and gas detectors. Although the developments of 2D h-BN materials have been successful, the fabrication of other 2D III-nitride materials, such as 2D h-AlN, h-GaN, and h-InN, are still far from satisfactory, which limits the practical applications of these materials. In this review, recent advances in the properties, growth methods, and potential applications of 2D III-nitride materials are summarized. The properties of the 2D III-nitride materials are mainly obtained by first-principles calculations because of the difficulties in the growth and characterizations of these materials. The discussion on the growth of 2D III-nitride materials is focused on 2D h-BN and h-AlN, as the developments of 2D h-GaN and h-InN are yet to be realized. Therefore, applications have been realized mostly based on the 2D h-BN materials; however, many potential applications are cited for the entire range of 2D III-nitride materials. Finally, future research directions and prospects in this field are also discussed.

Effect of Back-Gate Voltage on the High-Frequency Performance of Dual-Gate MoS2 Transistors

As an atomically thin semiconductor, 2D molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) has demonstrated great potential in realizing next-generation logic circuits, radio-frequency (RF) devices and flexible electronics. Although various methods have been performed to improve the high-frequency characteristics of MoS₂ RF transistors, the impact of the back-gate bias on dual-gate MoS₂ RF transistors is still unexplored. In this work, we study the effect of back-gate control on the static and RF performance metrics of MoS₂ high-frequency transistors. By using high-quality chemical vapor deposited bilayer MoS₂ as channel material, high-performance top-gate transistors with on/off ratio of 10⁷ and on-current up to 179 μA/μm at room temperature were realized. With the back-gate modulation, the source and drain contact resistances decrease to 1.99 kΩ∙μm at V_bg = 3 V, and the corresponding on-current increases to 278 μA/μm. Furthermore, both cut-off frequency and maximum oscillation frequency improves as the back-gate voltage increases to 3 V. In addition, a maximum intrinsic f_max of 29.7 GHz was achieved, which is as high as 2.1 times the f_max without the back-gate bias. This work provides significant insights into the influence of back-gate voltage on MoS₂ RF transistors and presents the potential of dual-gate MoS₂ RF transistors for future high-frequency applications.

Highly Efficient Experimental Approach to Evaluate Metal to 2D Semiconductor Interfaces in Vertical Diodes with Asymmetric Metal Contacts

The energy band alignments and associated material properties at the contacts between metal and two-dimensional (2D) semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenide (SCTMD) films determine the important traits in 2D SCTMD-based electronic and optical device applications. In this work, we realize 2D vertical diodes with asymmetric metal-SCTMD contact areas where currents are dominated by the contact-limited charge flows in the transport regimes of Fowler-Nordheim tunneling and Schottky emission. With straightforward current-voltage characteristics, we can accurately evaluate the interface parameters such as Schottky barrier heights and the vertical effective masses of tunneling charges. In particular, the differing contact areas and resultant current rectifications allow us to address specific Schottky barrier locations with respect to the conduction and valence band edges of 2D semiconducting WSe₂, WS₂, MoSe₂, and MoS₂, thereby determining whether p-type holes or n-type electrons become the majority charge carriers in the SCTMD devices. We demonstrate that our experimental and analytical approaches can be utilized as a simple but powerful material metrology to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate various metal-SCTMD contacts.

Restricted Channel Migration in 2D Multilayer ReS2

When thickness-dependent carrier mobility is coupled with Thomas-Fermi screening and interlayer resistance effects in two-dimensional (2D) multilayer materials, a conducting channel migrates from the bottom surface to the top surface under electrostatic bias conditions. However, various factors including (i) insufficient carrier density, (ii) atomically thin material thickness, and (iii) numerous oxide traps/defects considerably limit our deep understanding of the carrier transport mechanism in 2D multilayer materials. Herein, we report the restricted conducting channel migration in 2D multilayer ReS₂ after a constant voltage stress of gate dielectrics is applied. At a given gate bias condition, a gradual increase in the drain bias enables a sensitive change in the interlayer resistance of ReS₂, leading to a modification of the shape of the transconductance curves, and consequently, demonstrates the conducting channel migration along the thickness of ReS₂ before the stress. Meanwhile, this distinct conduction feature disappears after stress, indicating the formation of additional oxide trap sites inside the gate dielectrics that degrade the carrier mobility and eventually restrict the channel migration. Our theoretical and experimental study based on the resistor network model and Thomas-Fermi charge screening theory provides further insights into the origins of channel migration and restriction in 2D multilayer devices.

Weak Distance Dependence of Hot-Electron-Transfer Rates at the Interface between Monolayer MoS2 and Gold

Electron transport across the transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD)/metal interface plays an important role in determining the performance of TMD-based optoelectronic devices. However, the robustness of this process against structural heterogeneities remains unexplored, to the best of our knowledge. Here, we employ a combination of time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy (TR-PEEM) and atomic force microscopy to investigate the spatially resolved hot-electron-transfer dynamics at the monolayer (1L) MoS₂/Au interface. A spatially heterogeneous distribution of 1L-MoS₂/Au gap distances, along with the sub-80 nm spatial- and sub-60 fs temporal resolution of TR-PEEM, permits the simultaneous measurement of electron-transfer rates across a range of 1L-MoS₂/Au distances. These decay exponentially as a function of distance, with an attenuation coefficient β ∼ 0.06 ± 0.01 Å^-1, comparable to molecular wires. Ab initio simulations suggest that surface plasmon-like states mediate hot-electron-transfer, hence accounting for its weak distance dependence. The weak distance dependence of the interfacial hot-electron-transfer rate indicates that this process is insensitive to distance fluctuations at the TMD/metal interface, thus motivating further exploration of optoelectronic devices based on hot carriers.

Metal-Contact Improvement in a Multilayer WSe2 Transistor through Strong Hot Carrier Injection

Hot carrier injection (HCI), occurring when the horizontal electric field is strongly applied, usually affects the degradation of nanoelectronic devices. In addition, metal contacts play a significant role in nanoelectronic devices. In this study, Schottky contacts in multilayer tungsten diselenide (WSe₂) field-effect transistors (FETs) by hot carrier injection (HCI), occurring when a high drain voltage is applied, is investigated. A small number of hot carriers with high energy reduces the Schottky barrier height and improves the performance of FETs effectively rather than damaging the channel. Thermal annealing at the end of the fabrication process increases device performance by causing interfacial reactions of the source/drain electrodes. HCI causes a significant enhancement in the local asymmetry, especially in the subthreshold region. The subthreshold swing (SS) of the thermally annealed FETs is significantly improved from 9.66 to 0.562 V dec^-1 through the energy of HCI generated by a strong horizontal electric field. In addition, the contact resistances (R_SD), also called series resistances, extracted by a four-probe measurement and a Y-function method were also improved by decreasing to a 10th through the energy of HCI. To understand the asymmetrical characteristics of the channel after the stress, we performed electrical analysis, electrostatic force microscopy (EFM), and Raman spectroscopy.

Synthesis of large-area uniform Si2Te3 thin films for p-type electronic devices

Two-dimensional (2D) p-n junctions are basic components of various functional devices. However, the shortage of natural p-type 2D semiconductors makes it difficult to achieve both p-type and n-type transport in high-performance multifunctional devices. Here, continuous and uniform p-type Si2Te3 thin films are grown on SiO2/Si substrates, which are simultaneously used as an in situ Si source. Large-size 2D films with dimensions of ∼8 × 2 cm2 are prepared for the first time using a reliable and simple chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique. Film growth occurs via the vapor-liquid-solid mechanism, allowing the film thickness to be controlled by the substrate temperature. As the Si2Te3 film thickness increases from 3 to 8 nm, the bandgap decreases from 2.07 to 1.65 eV. Moreover, the directly grown thin films possess high crystallinity, showing electronic properties that are comparable to those of MoTe2 crystals and MoS2 films. Therefore, this large-area growth of p-type Si2Te3 enriches the 2D semiconductor library and opens up a new platform for the study of p-type Si2Te3, which has potential for application in p-n junctions.

Conformal hexagonal-boron nitride dielectric interface for tungsten diselenide devices with improved mobility and thermal dissipation

Relatively low mobility and thermal conductance create challenges for application of tungsten diselenide (WSe₂) in high performance devices. Dielectric interface is of extremely importance for improving carrier transport and heat spreading in a semiconductor device. Here, by near-equilibrium plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition, we realize catalyst-free growth of poly-crystalline two-dimensional hexagonal-boron nitride (2D-BN) with domains around 20~ 200 nm directly on SiO₂/Si, quartz, sapphire, silicon or SiO₂/Si with three-dimensional patterns at 300 °C. Owing to the atomically-clean van-der-Walls conformal interface and the fact that 2D-BN can better bridge the vibrational spectrum across the interface and protect interfacial heat conduction against substrate roughness, both improved performance and thermal dissipation of WSe₂ field-effect transistor are realized with mobility around 56~ 121 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ and saturated power intensity up to 4.23 × 10³ W cm⁻². Owing to its simplicity, conformal growth on three-dimensional surface, compatibility with microelectronic process, it has potential for application in future two-dimensional electronics.

Plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) is an industrially compatible microelectronics technology. Here, the authors use PECVD to obtain low-temperature, catalyst-free growth of poly-crystalline two-dimensional hexagonal-boron nitride, thus enabling superior thermal dissipation in WSe₂ field-effect transistors with mobility up to 121 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹.

Unusual properties and potential applications of strain BN-MS2 (M = Mo, W) heterostructures

Heterostructures receive intensive attentions due to their excellent intrinsic properties and wide applications. Here, we investigate the natural physical properties and performances of strain BN-MS₂ (M = Mo, W) heterostructure by density functional theory. Different to compressive monolayer MS₂, corresponding BN-MS₂ heterostructures keep direct band-gap characters because effects of charge transfer on anti-bonding dz² orbitals are stronger than those of Poisson effect. Mexican-hat-like bands without magnetic moments are observed at strain BN-MS₂ heterostructures when the compression is enough. Consequently, electron mobilities of strain BN-MS₂ heterostructures are slightly reduced at first and then enlarged with increasing compressive strain. Note that, strain BN-MS₂ heterostructures reduce the band edges of MS₂ layers and extend their application in photocatalytic water splitting. But just the n-type and p-type Schottky barriers of devices with strain BN-MS₂ heterostructures are reduced and even vanished with the increasing tensile and compressive, respectively. Besides, electron mobilities of strain BN-MoS₂ and BN-WS₂ heterostructures can be enhanced to 1290 and 1926 cm²  V ⁻¹ s⁻¹, respectively, with increasing tensile strain. Interestingly, the exciton binding energies of strain BN-MS₂ heterostructures exhibit oscillation variations, different to those of strain monolayer MS₂.

Probing Distinctive Electron Conduction in Multilayer Rhenium Disulfide

Charge carrier transport in multilayer van der Waals (vdW) materials, which comprise multiple conducting layers, is well described using Thomas-Fermi charge screening (λ_TF ) and interlayer resistance (R_int ). When both effects occur in carrier transport, a channel centroid migrates along the c-axis according to a vertical electrostatic force, causing redistribution of the conduction centroid in a multilayer system, unlike a conventional bulk material. Thus far, numerous unique properties of vdW materials are discovered, but direct evidence for distinctive charge transport behavior in 2D layered materials is not demonstrated. Herein, the distinctive electron conduction features are reported in a multilayer rhenium disulfide (ReS₂ ), which provides decoupled vdW interaction between adjacent layers and much high interlayer resistivity in comparison with other transition-metal dichalcogenides materials. The existence of two plateaus in its transconductance curve clearly reveals the relocation of conduction paths with respect to the top and bottom surfaces, which is rationalized by a theoretical resistor network model by accounting of λ_TF and R_int coupling. The effective tunneling distance probed via low-frequency noise spectroscopy further supports the shift of electron conduction channel along the thickness of ReS₂ .

Coulomb scattering mechanism transition in 2D layered MoTe2: effect of high-κ passivation and Schottky barrier height

Clean interface and low contact resistance are crucial requirements in two-dimensional (2D) materials to preserve their intrinsic carrier mobility. However, atomically thin 2D materials are sensitive to undesired Coulomb scatterers such as surface/interface adsorbates, metal-to-semiconductor Schottky barrier (SB), and ionic charges in the gate oxides, which often limits the understanding of the charge scattering mechanism in 2D electronic systems. Here, we present the effects of hafnium dioxide (HfO₂) high-κ passivation and SB height on the low-frequency (LF) noise characteristics of multilayer molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe₂) transistors. The passivated HfO₂ passivation layer significantly suppresses the surface reaction and enhances dielectric screening effect, resulting in an excess electron n-doping, zero hysteresis, and substantial improvement in carrier mobility. After the high-κ HfO₂ passivation, the obtained LF noise data appropriately demonstrates the transition of the Coulomb scattering mechanism from the SB contact to the channel, revealing the significant SB noise contribution to the 1/f noise. The substantial excess LF noise in the subthreshold regime is mainly attributed to the excess metal-to-MoTe₂ SB noise and is fully eliminated at the high drain bias regime. This study provides a clear insight into the origin of electronic signal perturbation in 2D electronic systems.

Kirigami-Inspired Conducting Polymer Thermoelectrics from Electrostatic Recognition Driven Assembly

Two-dimensional (2D) conducting polymers are expected to offer emergent topological, structural, and physical properties, which has become the "holy grail" for the development of plastic electronics. Here, we report the assembly of a free-floating metallic polymer layer, consisting of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) complexed with poly(styrenesulfonate) anions, directed by electrostatic recognition, amphiphilicity, and aromatic interactions. The obtained large-area crystalline nanosheets exhibit excellent environmental stability and mechanical robustness, meanwhile showing an electrical conductivity of 1216 S·cm^-1, the highest among the nanometer-thick conducting polymers. The kirigami-inspired freestanding polymer thermoelectrics, repeatedly stretching up to 200% strain, is demonstrated with high Seebeck coefficient with an optimized power factor of 95 μW m^-1 K^-2. The large-scale assembly and aqueous compatibility of 2D conducting polymers provide an exciting platform for integrating thermoelectricity into free-floating polymer nanostructures.

Synthesis of hexagonal boron nitride heterostructures for 2D van der Waals electronics

Among two dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) layered materials such as graphene, which is used like a metal, and transition metal chalcogenides (TMdCs), which are used as semiconductors and metals, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), which is used as an insulator, is ubiquitous as a building block to construct 2D vdW electronics for versatile tunneling devices. Monolayer and few-layer hBN films have been prepared with flake sizes of a few hundred micrometer via mechanical exfoliation and transfer methods. Another approach used to synthesize hBN films on a large scale is chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Although the single-crystal film growth of hBN on the wafer scale is the key to realizing realistic electronic applications, the various functionalities of hBN for 2D electronics are mostly limited to the microscale. Here, we review the recent progress for the large-area synthesis of hBN and other related vdW heterostructures via CVD, and the artificial construction of vdW heterostructures and 2D vdW electronics based on hBN, in terms of charge fluctuations, passivation, gate dielectrics, tunneling, Coulombic interactions, and contact resistances. The challenges and future perspectives for practical applications are also addressed.

Electrothermal Local Annealing via Graphite Joule Heating on Two-Dimensional Layered Transistors

A simple but powerful device platform for electrothermal local annealing (ELA) via graphite Joule heating on the surface of transition-metal dichalcogenide, is suggested here to sustainably restore intrinsic electrical properties of atomically thin layered materials. Such two-dimensional materials are easily deteriorated by undesirable surface/interface adsorbates and are screened by a high metal-to-semiconductor contact resistance. The proposed ELA allows one to expect a better electrical performance such as an excess electron doping, an enhanced carrier mobility, and a reduced surface traps in a monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂)/graphite heterostructure. The thermal distribution of local heating measured by an infrared thermal microscope and estimated by a finite element calculation shows that the annealing temperature reaches up to >400 K at ambient condition and the high efficiency of site-specific annealing is demonstrated unlike the case of conventional global thermal annealing. This ELA platform can be further promoted as a practical gas sensor application. From an O₂ cycling test and a low-frequency noise spectroscopy, the graphite on top of the MoS₂ continuously recovers its initial condition from surface adsorbates. This ELA technique significantly improves the stability and reliability of its gas sensing capability, which can be expanded in various nanoscale device applications.

A comparative study on top-gated and bottom-gated multilayer MoS2 transistors with gate stacked dielectric of Al2O3/HfO2

Top-gated and bottom-gated transistors with multilayer MoS₂ channel fully encapsulated by stacked Al₂O₃/HfO₂ (9 nm/6 nm) were fabricated and comparatively studied. Excellent electrical properties are demonstrated for the TG transistors with high on-off current ratio of 10⁸, high field-effect mobility of 10² cm² V^-1 s^-1, and low subthreshold swing of 93 mV dec^-1. Also, enhanced reliability has been achieved for the TG transistors with threshold voltage shift of 10^-3-10^-2 V MV^-1 cm^-1 after 6 MV cm^-1 gate-biased stressing. All improvement for the TG device can be ascribed to the formed device structure and dielectric environment. Degradation of the performance for the BG transistors should be attributed to reduced gate capacitance density and deteriorated interface properties related to vdW gap with a thickness about 0.4 nm. So, the TG transistor with MoS₂ channel fully encapsulated by stacked Al₂O₃/HfO₂ is a promising way to fabricate high-performance ML MoS₂ field-effect transistors for practical electron device applications.

Weakly Trapped, Charged, and Free Excitons in Single-Layer MoS2 in the Presence of Defects, Strain, and Charged Impurities

Few- and single-layer MoS₂ host substantial densities of defects. They are thought to influence the doping level, the crystal structure, and the binding of electron-hole pairs. We disentangle the concomitant spectroscopic expression of all three effects and identify to what extent they are intrinsic to the material or extrinsic to it, i.e., related to its local environment. We do so by using different sources of MoS₂-a natural one and one prepared at high pressure and high temperature-and different substrates bringing varying amounts of charged impurities and by separating the contributions of internal strain and doping in Raman spectra. Photoluminescence unveils various optically active excitonic complexes. We discover a defect-bound state having a low binding energy of 20 meV that does not appear sensitive to strain and doping, unlike charged excitons. Conversely, the defect does not significantly dope or strain MoS₂. Scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory simulations point to substitutional atoms, presumably individual nitrogen atoms at the sulfur site. Our work shows the way to a systematic understanding of the effect of external and internal fields on the optical properties of two-dimensional materials.

Tunable Mobility in Double-Gated MoTe2 Field-Effect Transistor: Effect of Coulomb Screening and Trap Sites

There is a general consensus that the carrier mobility in a field-effect transistor (FET) made of semiconducting transition-metal dichalcogenides (s-TMDs) is severely degraded by the trapping/detrapping and Coulomb scattering of carriers by ionic charges in the gate oxides. Using a double-gated (DG) MoTe₂ FET, we modulated and enhanced the carrier mobility by adjusting the top- and bottom-gate biases. The relevant mechanism for mobility tuning in this device was explored using static DC and low-frequency (LF) noise characterizations. In the investigations, LF-noise analysis revealed that for a strong back-gate bias the Coulomb scattering of carriers by ionized traps in the gate dielectrics is strongly screened by accumulation charges. This significantly reduces the electrostatic scattering of channel carriers by the interface trap sites, resulting in increased mobility. The reduction of the number of effective trap sites also depends on the gate bias, implying that owing to the gate bias, the carriers are shifted inside the channel. Thus, the number of active trap sites decreases as the carriers are repelled from the interface by the gate bias. The gate-controlled Coulomb-scattering parameter and the trap-site density provide new handles for improving the carrier mobility in TMDs, in a fundamentally different way from dielectric screening observed in previous studies.

Controlling the electronic and geometric structures of 2D insertions to realize high performance metal/insertion-MoS2 sandwich interfaces

Metal/insertion-MoS₂ sandwich interfaces are designed to reduce the Schottky barriers at metal-MoS₂ interfaces. The effects of geometric and electronic structures of two-dimensional (2D) insertion materials on the contact properties of metal/insertion-MoS₂ interfaces are comparatively studied by first-principles calculations. Regardless of the geometric and electronic structures of 2D insertion materials, Fermi level pinning effects and charge scattering at the metal/insertion-MoS₂ interface are weakened due to weak interactions between the insertion and MoS₂ layers, no gap states and negligible structural deformations for MoS₂ layers. The Schottky barriers at metal/insertion-MoS₂ interfaces are induced by three interface dipoles and four potential steps that are determined by the charge transfers and structural deformations of 2D insertion materials. The lower the electron affinities of 2D insertion materials, the more are the electrons lost from the Sc surface, resulting in lower n-type Schottky barriers at Sc/insertion-MoS₂ interfaces. The larger the ionization potentials and the thinner the thicknesses of 2D insertion materials, the fewer are the electrons that accumulate at the Pt surface, leading to lower p-type Schottky barriers at Pt/insertion-MoS₂ interfaces. All Sc/insertion-MoS₂ interfaces exhibited ohmic characters. The Pt/BN-MoS₂ interface exhibits the lowest p-type Schottky barrier of 0.52 eV due to the largest ionization potential (∼6.88 eV) and the thinnest thickness (single atomic layer thickness) of BN. These results in this work are beneficial to understand and design high performance metal/insertion-MoS₂ interfaces through 2D insertion materials.