Observation of large in-plane anisotropic transport in van der Waals semiconductor Nb_(2)SiTe_(4)

Two-dimensional(2D)van der Waals material is a focus of research for its widespread application in optoelectronics,memories,and spintronics.The ternary compound Nb_(2)SiTe_(4) is a van der Waals semiconductor with excellent air stability and small cleavage energy,which is suitable for preparing a few layers counterpart to explore novel properties.Here,properties of bulk Nb_(2)SiTe_(4) with large in-plane electrical anisotropy are demonstrated.It is found that hole carriers dominate at a temperature above 45 K with a carrier active energy of 31.3 meV.The carrier mobility measured at 100 K is about 213 cm^(2)·V^(-1)·s^(-1) in bulk Nb_(2)SiTe_(4),higher than the reported results.In a thin flake Nb_(2)SiTe_(4),the resistivity ratio between the crystalline axes of a and b is reaching about 47.3 at 2.5 K,indicating that there exists a large anisotropic transport behavior in their basal plane.These novel transport properties provide accurate information for modulating or utilizing Nb_(2)SiTe_(4) for electronic device applications.