Skip to main content
Log in

Epitaxial growth of metal-semiconductor van der Waals heterostructures NbS2/MoS2 with enhanced performance of transistors and photodetectors

外延生长范德华金属-半导体NbS2/MoS2异质结用 于增强晶体管和光电探测器性能

  • Articles
  • Published:
Science China Materials Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) heterostructures based on layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted increasing attention for the applications of the next-generation high-performance integrated electronics and optoelectronics. Although various TMD heterostructures have been successfully fabricated, epitaxial growth of such atomically thin metal-semiconductor heterostructures with a clean and sharp interface is still challenging. In addition, photodetectors based on such heterostructures have seldom been studied. Here, we report the synthesis of high-quality vertical NbS2/MoS2 metallic-semiconductor heterostructures. By using NbS2 as the contact electrodes, the field-effect mobility and current on-off ratio of MoS2 can be improved at least 6-fold and two orders of magnitude compared with the conventional Ti/Au contact, respectively. By using NbS2 as contact, the photodetector performance of MoS2 is much improved with higher responsivity and less response time. Such facile synthesis of atomically thin metal-semiconductor heterostructures by a simple chemical vapor deposition strategy and its effectiveness as ultrathin 2D metal contact open the door for the future application of electronics and optoelectronics.

摘要

基于过渡金属硫族化合物的二维材料异质结, 由于其在下一 代高性能集成光电子器件中的潜在应用而备受关注. 虽然目前异 质结制备很广泛, 但是外延生长具有干净锐利界面的原子级别厚 度金属-半导体异质结仍然备受挑战. 另外, 基于金属-半导体异质 结的光电性能还鲜有研究. 这里, 我们报道了高质量垂直金属-半导 体异质结的合成, 其中金属性质的单层NbS2外延生长于单层MoS2 表层. 使用NbS2作为电极接触的MoS2晶体管, 其迁移率和电流开 关比相对于Ti/Au接触的MoS2晶体管分别提升了6倍和2个数量级. 另外, 基于NbS2作为电极接触的MoS2光电探测器, 其响应时间和光 响应可以分别提升至少30倍和20倍. 本工作通过简单的化学气相 沉积(CVD)方法制备的原子级别厚度的金属-半导体异质结和二维 金属材料在接触方面的作用为其在光电子器件中的应用奠定了基 础.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gong Y, Yuan H, Wu CL, et al. Spatially controlled doping of two-dimensional SnS2 through intercalation for electronics. Nat Nanotech, 2018, 13: 294–299

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Wang C, He Q, Halim U, et al. Monolayer atomic crystal molecular superlattices. Nature, 2018, 555: 231–236

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Wang Y, Xiao J, Zhu H, et al. Structural phase transition in monolayer MoTe2 riven by electrostatic doping. Nature, 2017, 550: 487–491

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Wang Z, Gibertini M, Dumcenco D, et al. Determining the phase diagram of atomically thin layered antiferromagnet CrCl3. Nat Nanotechnol, 2019, 14: 1116–1122

    Google Scholar 

  5. Liao M, Wu ZW, Du L, et al. Twist angle-dependent conductivities across MoS2/graphene heterojunctions. Nat Commun, 2018, 9: 4068

    Google Scholar 

  6. Zhou X, Hu X, Zhou S, et al. Tunneling diode based on WSe2/SnS2 heterostructure incorporating high detectivity and responsivity. Adv Mater, 2018, 30: 1703286

    Google Scholar 

  7. Xiao Y, Zhang T, Zhou M, et al. Disassembly of 2D vertical heterostructures. Adv Mater, 2019, 31: 1805976

    Google Scholar 

  8. Luo Y, Li X, Cai X, et al. Two-dimensional MoS2 confined Co(OH)2 electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution in alkaline electrolytes. ACS Nano, 2018, 12: 4565–4573

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Zhang D, Du J, Hong YL, et al. A double support layer for facile clean transfer of two-dimensional materials for high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices. ACS Nano, 2019, 13: 5513–5522

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Liu L, Wu J, Wu L, et al. Phase-selective synthesis of 1T’ MoS2 monolayers and heterophase bilayers. Nat Mater, 2018, 17: 1108–1114

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Son SB, Kim Y, Kim AR, et al. Ultraviolet wavelength-dependent optoelectronic properties in two-dimensional NbSe2-WSe2 van der Waals heterojunction-based field-effect transistors. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2017, 9: 41537–41545

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Yang T, Zheng B, Wang Z, et al. Van der Waals epitaxial growth and optoelectronics of large-scale WSe2/SnS2 vertical bilayer p-n junctions. Nat Commun, 2017, 8: 1906

    Google Scholar 

  13. Lee H, Bak S, An SJ, et al. Highly efficient thin-film transistor via cross-linking of 1T edge functional 2H molybdenum disulfides. ACS Nano, 2017, 11: 12832–12839

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Shin HG, Yoon HS, Kim JS, et al. Vertical and in-plane current devices using NbS2/n-MoS2 van der Waals Schottky junction and graphene contact. Nano Lett, 2018, 18: 1937–1945

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Gong Y, Lin J, Wang X, et al. Vertical and in-plane heterostructures from WS2/MoS2 monolayers. Nat Mater, 2014, 13: 1135–1142

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Hsu WT, Lu LS, Wu PH, et al. Negative circular polarization emissions from WSe2/MoSe2 commensurate heterobilayers. Nat Commun, 2018, 9: 1356

    Google Scholar 

  17. Xue Y, Zhang Y, Liu Y, et al. Scalable production of a few-layer MoS2/WS2 vertical heterojunction array and its application for photodetectors. ACS Nano, 2016, 10: 573–580

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Fu Q, Wang X, Zhou J, et al. One-step synthesis of metal/semiconductor heterostructure NbS2/MoS2. Chem Mater, 2018, 30: 4001–4007

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Leong WS, Ji Q, Mao N, et al. Synthetic lateral metal-semiconductor heterostructures of transition metal disulfides. J Am Chem Soc, 2018, 140: 12354–12358

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Ji Q, Li C, Wang J, et al. Metallic vanadium disulfide nanosheets as a platform material for multifunctional electrode applications. Nano Lett, 2017, 17: 4908–4916

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Zhou J, Lin J, Huang X, et al. A library of atomically thin metal chalcogenides. Nature, 2018, 556: 355–359

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Suh J, Park TE, Lin DY, et al. Doping against the native propensity of MoS2: Degenerate hole doping by cation substitution. Nano Lett, 2014, 14: 6976–6982

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Zhang J, Wu J, Guo H, et al. Unveiling active sites for the hydrogen evolution reaction on monolayer MoS2. Adv Mater, 2017, 29: 1701955

    Google Scholar 

  24. Jeong H, Oh HM, Gokarna A, et al. Integrated freestanding two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides. Adv Mater, 2017, 29: 1700308

    Google Scholar 

  25. Zhang Y, Yin L, Chu J, et al. Edge-epitaxial growth of 2D NbS2-WS2 lateral metal-semiconductor heterostructures. Adv Mater, 2018, 30: 1803665

    Google Scholar 

  26. Wang X, Lin J, Zhu Y, et al. Chemical vapor deposition of trigonal prismatic NbS2 monolayers and 3R-polytype few-layers. Nanoscale, 2017, 9: 16607–16611

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Han JH, Kim HK, Baek B, et al. Activation of the basal plane in two dimensional transition metal chalcogenide nanostructures. J Am Chem Soc, 2018, 140: 13663–13671

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Li Z, Yang W, Losovyj Y, et al. Large-size niobium disulfide nanoflakes down to bilayers grown by sulfurization. Nano Res, 2018, 11: 5978–5988

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Jouve G, Séverac C, Cantacuzène S. XPS study of NbN and (NbTi)N superconducting coatings. Thin Solid Films, 1996, 287: 146–153

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Gong Y, Liu Z, Lupini AR, et al. Band gap engineering and layer-by-layer mapping of selenium-doped molybdenum disulfide. Nano Lett, 2014, 14: 442–449

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Cui X, Kong Z, Gao E, et al. Rolling up transition metal dichalcogenide nanoscrolls via one drop of ethanol. Nat Commun, 2018, 9: 1301

    Google Scholar 

  32. Hong W, Shim GW, Yang SY, et al. Improved electrical contact properties of MoS2-graphene lateral heterostructure. Adv Funct Mater, 2018, 29: 1807550

    Google Scholar 

  33. Wu R, Tao Q, Dang W, et al. Van der Waals epitaxial growth of atomically thin 2D metals on dangling-bond-free WSe2 and WS2. Adv Funct Mater, 2019, 29: 1806611

    Google Scholar 

  34. Li M, Lin CY, Yang SH, et al. High mobilities in layered InSe transistors with indium-encapsulation-induced surface charge doping. Adv Mater, 2018, 30: 1803690

    Google Scholar 

  35. Das S, Chen HY, Penumatcha AV, et al. High performance multilayer MoS2 transistors with scandium contacts. Nano Lett, 2013, 13: 100–105

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Abraham M, Mohney SE. Annealed Ag contacts to MoS2 field-effect transistors. J Appl Phys, 2017, 122: 115306

    Google Scholar 

  37. Maurel C, Ajustron F, Péchou R, et al. Electrical behavior of the Au/MoS2 interface studied by light emission induced by scanning tunneling microscopy. Surf Sci, 2006, 600: 442–447

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Liu Y, Stradins P, Wei SH. Van der Waals metal-semiconductor junction: Weak Fermi level pinning enables effective tuning of Schottky barrier. Sci Adv, 2016, 2: e1600069

    Google Scholar 

  39. Liu Y, Guo J, Zhu E, et al. Approaching the Schottky-Mott limit in van der Waals metal-semiconductor junctions. Nature, 2018, 557: 696–700

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Sun B, Wang Z, Liu Z, et al. Tailoring of silver nanocubes with optimized localized surface plasmon in a gap mode for a flexible MoS2 photodetector. Adv Funct Mater, 2019, 29: 1900541

    Google Scholar 

  41. Zhang W, Huang JK, Chen CH, et al. High-gain phototransistors based on a CVD MoS2 monolayer. Adv Mater, 2013, 25: 3456–3461

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Yin Z, Li H, Li H, et al. Single-layer MoS2 phototransistors. ACS Nano, 2012, 6: 74–80

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Wang Y, Kim JC, Wu RJ, et al. Van der Waals contacts between three-dimensional metals and two-dimensional semiconductors. Nature, 2019, 568: 70–74

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Lopez-Sanchez O, Lembke D, Kayci M, et al. Ultrasensitive photodetectors based on monolayer MoS2. Nat Nanotech, 2013, 8: 497–501

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Chang YH, Zhang W, Zhu Y, et al. Monolayer MoSe2 grown by chemical vapor deposition for fast photodetection. ACS Nano, 2014, 8: 8582–8590

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. Hu PA, Wang L, Yoon M, et al. Highly responsive ultrathin GaS nanosheet photodetectors on rigid and flexible substrates. Nano Lett, 2013, 13: 1649–1654

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. Zhou Y, Nie Y, Liu Y, et al. Epitaxy and photoresponse of two-dimensional GaSe crystals on flexible transparent mica sheets. ACS Nano, 2014, 8: 1485–1490

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. Zeng W, Li J, Feng L, et al. Synthesis of large-area atomically thin BiOI crystals with highly sensitive and controllable photodetection. Adv Funct Mater, 2019, 29: 1900129

    Google Scholar 

  49. Zou Z, Li D, Liang J, et al. Epitaxial synthesis of ultrathin β-In2Se3/MoS2 heterostructures with high visible/near-infrared photo-response. Nanoscale, 2020, 12: 6480–6488

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  50. Liu H, Li D, Ma C, et al. Van der Waals epitaxial growth of vertically stacked Sb2Te3/MoS2 p-n heterojunctions for high performance optoelectronics. Nano Energy, 2019, 59: 66–74

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFA0306900 and 2018YFA0305800), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51872012).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Gong Y and Zhang P conceived and designed the experiments. Zhang P synthesized the heterojunction; Bian C made the devices and carried out the measurement; Ye J carried out the photodetector measurement; Cheng N carried out the HAADF-STEM experiments. All the authors participated in discussions and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Lihong Bao  (鲍丽宏), Weida Hu  (胡伟达) or Yongji Gong  (宫勇吉).

Additional information

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Supplementary information

Experimental details and supporting data, including the growth process, AFM, optical images, XPS, HAADF-STEM images, electrical properties are available in the online version of the paper.

Peng Zhang received his BS degree (2013) from the Department of Electronic Engineering, Nantong University, Jiangsu, and PhD degree (2018) from the Department of Electronic Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai. He is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing. His research interests focus on the controlled synthesis of novel low-dimension materials, and the application research of functional devices.

Ce Bian received his BSc degree from Shandong University. He is currently a PhD student at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research interests involve chemical vapor deposition and device applications of two-dimensional materials and heterostructures.

Jiafu Ye received his BS degree in materials science and engineering from Central South University, Changsha, China, in 2017. He is currently working towards his PhD degree in condensed matter physics at Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, under the supervision of Prof. Weida Hu. His current research interests focus on the synthesis and characterizations of novel low-dimensional materials, and their potential applications in electronic and photoelectronic devices.

Lihong Bao received his PhD degree from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Now, he is an associate professor at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research interests focus on the construction and electronic transport properties of low-dimensional electronic devices.

]Weida Hu received his PhD degree in microelectronics and solid-state electronics from Shanghai Institute of Technology Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2007. He is currently a full professor in Shanghai Institute of Technology Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His current research interests focus on the fabrication and characterizations of infrared photoelectronic devices.

Yongji Gong received his BS degree (2011) in chemistry from Peking University and PhD degree (2015) in chemistry from Rice University. Then, he worked as postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in Stanford University (2016-2017). From 2017, he has been a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University. His scientific interest focuses on the controllable synthesis and propertiy tuning of 2D materials for electronics and energy storage and conversion.

Supplementary Information

40843_2020_1355_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Epitaxial growth of metal-semiconductor van der Waals heterostructures NbS2/MoS2 with enhanced performance of transistors and photodetectors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, P., Bian, C., Ye, J. et al. Epitaxial growth of metal-semiconductor van der Waals heterostructures NbS2/MoS2 with enhanced performance of transistors and photodetectors. Sci. China Mater. 63, 1548–1559 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-020-1355-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-020-1355-2

Keywords

Navigation