Metallic tellurium for p-type contacts of two-dimensional MoTe<sub>2</sub> field-effect transistors.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41530156.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-67948-2 and PMC identifier 12859037.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC-ND.
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Abstract
While significant progress has been made in the fabrication of n-type contacts for two-dimensional field-effect transistors (2D FETs), the development of high-performance p-type counterparts using compatible techniques remains insufficient to realize competitive complementary circuits. Here, we demonstrate the growth of metallic-phase tellurium (m-Te) on MoTe<sub>2</sub> via evaporation as an efficient p-type contact. The atomic arrangement at the Te/MoTe<sub>2</sub> interface stabilizes m-Te under ambient conditions, forming an atomically sharp van der Waals gap with optimal band alignment and suppressed metal-induced gap states. Combined with hole doping and tellurium vacancies compensation, the interface enables barrier-free hole injection. Bilayer MoTe<sub>2</sub> FETs employing m-Te contacts achieve a contact resistance as low as 1.6 kΩ μm, an on-state current up to 124 μA μm<sup>-1</sup>, and a maximum on/off ratio of 10<sup>7</sup>, which are among the best values obtained for p-type 2D FETs. Our work unveils metallic-phase chalcogen as a promising approach for contact optimization.