Two-Dimensional Semiconductors with High Intrinsic Carrier Mobility at Room Temperature

Two-dimensional semiconductors have demonstrated great potential for next-generation electronics and optoelectronics, however, the current 2D semiconductors suffer from intrinsically low carrier mobility at room temperature, which significantly limits their applications. Here we discover a variety of new 2D semiconductors with mobility 1 order of magnitude higher than the current ones and even higher than bulk silicon. The discovery was made by developing effective descriptors for computational screening of the 2D materials database, followed by high-throughput accurate calculation of the mobility using a state-of-the-art first-principles method that includes quadrupole scattering. The exceptional mobilities are explained by several basic physical features; particularly, we find a new feature: carrier-lattice distance, which is easy to calculate and correlates well with mobility. Our Letter opens up new materials for high performance device performance and/or exotic physics, and improves the understanding of the carrier transport mechanism.

Automated summary

Researchers have discovered new 2D semiconductors with significantly higher carrier mobility than current ones, even surpassing bulk silicon, through computational screening and accurate calculation using a novel first-principles method. The exceptional mobilities can be explained by several physical features, including a new feature called carrier-lattice distance, which correlates well with mobility and is easy to calculate.