Single-Molecule Characterization of van der Waals Contact Between Alkane and Gold

Van der Waals(vdW)contact,dominated by weak but ubiquitous vdW interactions,plays a significant role in diverse fields such as supramolecular chemistry,nanotechnology,and surface science.Accurate characterization of vdW contact at the single-molecule level remains challenging.Herein,we combine the scanning tunneling microscope break junction technique with first-principles calculations to study the mechanical and electrical characteristics of the alkane/Au vdW contact in an in-situ solution environment.The step-like conductance plateaus indicate a gradual desorption of alkyl chains in units of two methylene groups under force stretching.Two distinct charge transport channels,through the shortest C–H/Au pathway and the entire adsorbed alkyl chain,are identified.Furthermore,we discover that a higher electric field leads to increased conductance and stronger bonding of the alkane/Au vdW contact.These results unveil the intrinsic properties of vdW contact at the molecular and even atomic levels,which are crucial for exploring noncovalent interactions and advancing molecular sciences.

Unipolar p-type monolayer WSe_(2) field-effect transistors with high current density and low contact resistance enabled by van der Waals contacts

High-performance field-effect transistors (FETs) based on atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors have demonstrated great promise in post-Moore integrated circuits. However, unipolar p-type 2D semiconductor transistors yet remain challenging and suffer from low saturation current density (less than 10 µA·µm^(−1)) and high contact resistance (larger than 100 kΩ·µm), mainly limited by the Schottky barrier induced by the mismatch of the work-functions and the Fermi level pinning at the metal contact interfaces. Here, we overcome these two obstacles through van der Waals (vdW) integration of high work-function metal palladium (Pd) as the contacts onto monolayer WSe2 grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. We demonstrate unipolar p-type monolayer WSe2 FETs with superior device performance: room temperature on-state current density exceeding 100 µA·µm^(−1), contact resistance of 12 kΩ·µm, on/off ratio over 107, and field-effect hole mobility of ~ 103 cm2·V^(−1)·s^(−1). Electrical transport measurements reveal that the Fermi level pinning effect is completely effectively eliminated in monolayer WSe2 with vdW Pd contacts, leading to a Schottky barrier-free Ohmic contact at the metal-semiconductor junctions. Combining the advantages of large-scale vdW contact strategy and CVD growth, our results pave the way for wafer-scale fabrication of complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) logic circuits based on atomically thin 2D semiconductors.

High-throughput screening of phase-engineered atomically thin transition-metal dichalcogenides for van der Waals contacts at the Schottky–Mott limit

A main challenge for the development of two-dimensional devices based on atomically thin transition-metal dichalcogenides(TMDs)is the realization of metal–semiconductor junctions(MSJs)with low contact resistance and high charge transport capability.However,traditional metal–TMD junctions usually suffer from strong Fermi-level pinning(FLP)and chemical disorder at the interfaces,resulting in weak device performance and high energy consump-tion.By means of high-throughput first-principles calculations,we report an attractive solution via the formation of van der Waals(vdW)contacts between metallic and semiconducting TMDs.We apply a phase-engineering strategy to create a monolayer TMD database for achieving a wide range of work func-tions and band gaps,hence offering a large degree of freedom to construct TMD vdW MSJs with desired contact types.The Schottky barrier heights and contact types of 728 MSJs have been identified and they exhibit weak FLP(-0.62 to-0.90)as compared with the traditional metal–TMD junctions.We find that the interfacial interactions of the MSJs bring a delicate competition between the FLP strength and carrier tunneling efficiency,which can be uti-lized to screen high-performance MSJs.Based on a set of screening criteria,four potential TMD vdW MSJs(e.g.,NiTe_(2)/ZrSe_(2),NiTe_(2)/PdSe_(2),HfTe_(2)/PdTe_(2),TaSe_(2)/MoTe_(2))with Ohmic contact,weak FLP,and high carrier tunneling probability have been predicted.This work not only provides a fundamental understanding of contact properties of TMD vdW MSJs but also renders their huge potential for electronics and optoelectronics.

Van der Waals contacted WSe_(2) ambipolar transistor for in-sensor computing

Image sensors with an in-sensor computing architecture have shown great potential in meeting the energy-efficient requirements of emergent data-intensive applications,where images are processed within the photodiode arrays.It demands the composed photodiodes are reconfigurable,which are usually achieved by ambipolar two-dimensional(2D)semiconductors.To improve the ambipolar charges injection,here we report a top-gated field-effect transistor(FET)design that is of bottom van der Waals contact via transferring ambipolar 2D WSe_(2) onto Pd/Cr source/drain electrodes.The devices exhibit nearly negligible effective barrier heights for both holes and electrons based on thermionic emission mode,and show an almost balanced on/off ratio in the p-branch and n-branch.By replacing the top gate with two aligned semi-gates,the devices can effectively function as reconfigurable photodiodes.They can be switched between PIN and NIP configurations via controlling the two semi-gates,exhibiting good linearity in terms of short-circuit current(ISC)and incident light power density.The photodiode arrays are also demonstrated for in-sensor optoelectronic convolutional image processing,showing significant potential for in-sensor computing image processors.