The research in the field of layered materials, especially in monolayer and few layer forms, have surged in the past decade owing to their unique properties enabling a new kind of nano-dimensional device architecture. Electrical contacts connecting these materials to the outside circuit play very important role in deciding the device performance. In layered materials, particularly when considering the 2D regime, metal–semiconductor contacts become even more crucial. In this review, we present a comprehensive overview of the importance of metal contacts to 2D materials and discuss about the challenges faced which hinder the ultimate device performance. In particular, we discuss about the recent investigations towards improvement in electronic device performance by engineering the metal–semiconductor interfaces based on 2D semiconductors.

层状材料领域的研究，特别是单层和少层形式的材料，由于其独特的特性能够实现新型纳米级器件结构，因此在过去十年中蓬勃发展。将这些材料连接到外部电路的电触点在决定器件性能方面起着非常重要的作用。在分层材料中，特别是在考虑 2D 状态时，金属-半导体接触变得更加重要。在这篇综述中，我们全面概述了金属接触对 2D 材料的重要性，并讨论了阻碍最终设备性能的挑战。特别是，我们讨论了最近通过设计基于 2D 半导体的金属-半导体界面来提高电子设备性能的研究。