Scalable Substitutional Re-Doping and its Impact on the Optical and Electronic Properties of Tungsten Diselenide

Reliable, controlled doping of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides will enable the realization of next-generation electronic, logic-memory, and magnetic devices based on these materials. However, to date, accurate control over dopant concentration and scalability of the process remains a challenge. Here, a systematic study of scalable in situ doping of fully coalesced 2D WSe2 films with Re atoms via metal-organic chemical vapor deposition is reported. Dopant concentrations are uniformly distributed over the substrate surface, with precisely controlled concentrations down to <0.001% Re achieved by tuning the precursor partial pressure. Moreover, the impact of doping on morphological, chemical, optical, and electronic properties of WSe2 is elucidated with detailed experimental and theoretical examinations, confirming that the substitutional doping of Re at the W site leads to n-type behavior of WSe2. Transport characteristics of fabricated back-gated field-effect-transistors are directly correlated to the dopant concentration, with degrading device performances for doping concentrations exceeding 1% of Re. The study demonstrates a viable approach to introducing true dopant-level impurities with high precision, which can be scaled up to batch production for applications beyond digital electronics.