Manifestation of unexpected semiconducting properties in few-layer orthorhombic arsenene

In this letter, we demonstrate that few-layer orthorhombic arsenene is an ideal semiconductor. Owing to the layer stacking, multilayer arsenenes always behave as intrinsic direct bandgap semiconductors with gap values of approximately 1 eV. In addition, these bandgaps can be further tuned in its nanoribbons. Based on the so-called acoustic phonon limited approach, the carrier mobilities are predicted to approach as high as several thousand square centimeters per volt-second and to simultaneously exhibit high directional anisotropy. All these characteristics make few-layer arsenene promising for device applications in the semiconducting industry. (C) 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics