Low-resistance metal contacts to encapsulated semiconductor monolayers with long transfer length

Two-dimensional semiconductors such as transition metal dichalcogenides are of potential use in electronic and optoelectronic devices due to their high mobility, direct optical bandgap and mechanical flexibility. These semiconductors are often encapsulated with hexagonal boron nitride to minimize extrinsic disorder and improve performance, but it is challenging to make high-quality contacts to encapsulated high-purity monolayers. Here we show that metal contacts embedded within hexagonal boron nitride can be transferred onto clean transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers, in an approach that reduces doping, strain and interfacial roughness compared with evaporated metal contacts. Contacts to encapsulated ultraclean tungsten diselenide monolayers created using this technique exhibit a room-temperature contact resistance of around 5 k omega mu m, and provide transistors with zero hysteresis and room-temperature mobility of 655 cm(2) V-1 s(-1). The contacts also exhibit a transfer length of 1 mu m, which is several orders of magnitude larger than the channel thickness. A method that minimizes strain and doping can be used to fabricate metal contacts to encapsulated ultraclean tungsten diselenide monolayers with contact resistances of 5 k omega mu m and transfer lengths of 1 mu m.

Automated summary

Researchers have discovered a method for embedding metal contacts within hexagonal boron nitride and transferring them onto transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers. This method reduces doping, strain, and interfacial roughness, allowing for the fabrication of high-quality metal contacts.