Thickness scaling effect on interfacial barrier and electrical contact to two-dimensional MoS2 layers.

Li, Song-Lin; Komatsu, Katsuyoshi; Nakaharai, Shu; Lin, Yen-Fu; Yamamoto, Mahito; Duan, Xiangfeng; Tsukagoshi, Kazuhito · ACS Nano · 2014

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Understanding the interfacial electrical properties between metallic electrodes and low-dimensional semiconductors is essential for both fundamental science and practical applications. Here we report the observation of thickness reduction induced crossover of electrical contact at Au/MoS2 interfaces. For MoS2 thicker than 5 layers, the contact resistivity slightly decreases with reducing MoS2 thickness. By contrast, the contact resistivity sharply increases with reducing MoS2 thickness below 5 layers, mainly governed by the quantum confinement effect. We find that the interfacial potential barrier can be finely tailored from 0.3 to 0.6 eV by merely varying MoS2 thickness. A full evolution diagram of energy level alignment is also drawn to elucidate the thickness scaling effect. The finding of tailoring interfacial properties with channel thickness represents a useful approach controlling the metal/semiconductor interfaces which may result in conceptually innovative functionalities.