Percolation-Based Metal-Insulator Transition in Black Phosphorus Field Effect Transistors

The existence of a novel phenomenon, such as the metal-insulator transition (MIT) in two-dimensional (2D) systems, affords emerging functional properties that provide new aspects for future electronics and optoelectronics. Here, we report the observation of the MIT in black phosphorus field effect transistors by tuning the carrier density (n) controlled by back-gate bias. We find that the conductivity follows an n dependence as sigma(n) proportional to n alpha with alpha 1, which indicates the presence of screened Coulomb impurity scattering at high carrier densities in the temperature range of 10-300 K. As n decreases, the screened Coulomb impurity scattering breaks down, developing strong charge density inhomogeneity leading to a percolation-based transition at the critical carrier density (nC). At low carrier densities (n < nC), the system is in the insulating regime, which is expressed by Mott variable range hopping that demonstrates the role of disorder in the system. In addition, the extracted average values of critical exponent delta are -1.29 +/- 0.01 and -1.14 +/- 0.01 for devices A and B, respectively, consistent with the 2D percolation exponent of 4/3, confirming the 2D percolation-based MIT in BP devices. Our findings strongly suggest that the 2D MIT observed in BP is a classical percolation-based transition caused by charge inhomogeneity induced by screened Coulomb charge impurity scattering around a transition point controlled by n through back gate bias.

Automated summary

By tuning the carrier density controlled by back-gate bias, we observed the metal-insulator transition (MIT) in black phosphorus field effect transistors. At high carrier densities, the conductivity follows a power-law dependence on carrier density, indicating the presence of screened Coulomb impurity scattering. As the carrier density decreases, the screening of Coulomb impurity scattering breaks down, leading to strong charge density inhomogeneity and a percolation-based transition at the critical carrier density. Our findings confirm the 2D percolation-based MIT in black phosphorous devices.