Control of the Schottky barrier height in monolayer WS2 FETs using molecular doping (NIST)

A new research paper titled “Control of the Schottky barrier height in monolayer WS₂ FETs using molecular doping” was published by researchers at NIST, Theiss Research, Naval Research Laboratory, and Nova Research.

Abstract:

“The development of processes to controllably dope two-dimensional semiconductors is critical to achieving next generation electronic and optoelectronic devices. Understanding the nature of the contacts is a critical step for realizing efficient charge injection in transition metal dichalcogenides. In this study, post-growth n-doping of chemical vapor deposition grown monolayer (ML) WS₂ is achieved by treatment with solutions of molecular reductants. The extent of doping can be conveniently controlled by the concentration of dopant solutions and treatment time. Threshold voltage shifts and tunable channel current are observed in doped WS₂ field-effect transistors. This molecular n-doping technique is particularly useful for the selective area doping needed for electrical contacts and reduces the contact resistance (R_c) in ML WS₂ by more than two orders of magnitude. The significant reduction of Rc is attributed to the high electron-doping density achieved in WS₂ which leads to a significant reduction of Schottky barrier width and height. As a proof-of-concept, following n-doping of monolayer WS₂, we achieve high mobility of 97 cm2 V-1 S-1 and high on/off ratio exceeding 106. The dependence of mobility on temperature shows clear evidence of the strong suppression of charge-impurity scattering after the doping. High levels of doping allow the observation of a metal-insulator transition in monolayer WS₂ due to strong electron-electron interactions. This doping technique provides a viable route to tailor the electrical properties and improve the contacts in transition metal dichalcogenides, paving the way for high-performance two-dimensional nanoelectronic devices.”

Find the technical paper here.  Published August 2022.

Zhang, S. , Chuang, H. , Le, S. , Richter, C. , McCreary, K. , Jonker, B. , Hight Walker, A. and Hacker, C. (2022), Control of the Schottky barrier height in monolayer WS2 FETs using molecular doping, AIP Advances, [online], https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0101033, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=934233.