Metal contacts with Moire interfaces on WSe2 for ambipolar applications

The rational design of metal contacts on transition metal dichalcogenides can significantly improve the performance of 2D devices. We have previously shown that a Moire interface between n-type monolayer MoS2 and metal contacts enhances the stability of physisorptive interface sites, thereby enabling weaker Fermi level pinning and allowing easier variation of the Schottky barrier height at these interfaces. We extend these calculations to p-type and ambipolar WSe2 contacts in this work. The analysis shows that the Moire interfaces again have a weaker Fermi level pinning, while most metals have chemisorptive sites with stronger pinning. We find that the most stable site of Pd is a Moire site with an unusually low p-type Schottky barrier height (p-SBH), while Au has a metastable low p-SBH. In and Al retain their low n-type SBHs, which together with Pd enable ambipolar contacts by the choice of contact metals, indicating that WSe2 can be used for high-performance ambipolar devices with the rational design of contact metals. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.

Automated summary

The rational design of metal contacts on transition metal dichalcogenides can significantly improve the performance of 2D devices. Previous research has shown that Moire interfaces enhance the stability of interface sites and enable easier variation of the Schottky barrier height. This study extends the calculations to p-type and ambipolar WSe2 contacts.