Contact research strategy for emerging molybdenum disulfide and other two-dimensional field-effect transistors

Layered two-dimensional (2D) semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been widely isolated, synthesized, and characterized recently. Numerous 2D materials are identified as the potential candidates as channel materials for future thin film technology due to their high mobility and the exhibiting bandgaps. While many TMD filed-effect transistors (I-ETs) have been widely demonstrated along with a significant progress to clearly understand the device physics, large contact resistance at metal/semiconductor interface still remain a challenge. From 2D device research point of view, how to minimize the Schottky barrier effects on contacts thus reduce the contact resistance of metals on 2D materials is very critical for the further development of the field. Here, we present a review of contact research on molybdenum disulfide and other TMD I-ETs from the fundamental understanding of metal-semiconductor interfaces on 2D materials. A clear contact research strategy on 2D semiconducting materials is developed for future high-performance 2D I-ETs with aggressively scaled dimensions. (C) 2014 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.