Controllable vdW Contacts between the Ferroelectric In2Se3 Monolayer and Two-Dimensional Metals

Developing low dimensional multifunctional devices becomes more and more important as the scale of the field-effect transistors decreases. Although van der Waals (vdW) contacts between two-dimensional semiconductors and metals have shown great potential, direct control of the performance of such contacts has still not been explored. Here, we predicted that vdW contacts between ferroelectric semiconductors and metals can present multifunctional performances switched by an external electric field. Based on first-principles calculations, our results shown that when the polarization direction of In2Se3 is reversed from downward to upward, the original n-type Schottky contact turned out to be the highly desirable ohmic contact in In2Se3/M3C2(M= Zn, Cd, Hg), while a transition from the p-type to ntype Schottky contact is observed in VS2 and TSe2 (T = V, Nb, Ta) metals. The calculated pinning factors suggest a weak Fermi-level pinning effect and tunable Schottky barrier height. Thus, our results show the strong effect of ferroelectric polarization on the properties of vdW contacts, which is important for designing and fabricating high-performance field-effect transistors.

Automated summary

The study predicts that van der Waals contacts between ferroelectric semiconductors and metals can exhibit multifunctional performances switched by an external electric field. The results highlight the strong effect of ferroelectric polarization on the properties of vdW contacts, which is crucial for designing and fabricating high-performance field-effect transistors.