Atomically thin (two-dimensional, 2D) semiconductors have shown great potential as the fundamental building blocks for next-generation electronics. However, all the 2D semiconductors that have been experimentally made so far have room-temperature electron mobility lower than that of bulk silicon, which is not understood. Here, by using first-principles calculations and reformulating the transport equations to isolate and quantify contributions of different mobility-determining factors, we show that the universally low mobility of 2D semiconductors originates from the high “density of scatterings,” which is intrinsic to the 2D material with a parabolic electron band. The density of scatterings characterizes the density of phonons that can interact with the electrons and can be fully determined from the electron and phonon band structures without knowledge of electron-phonon coupling strength. Our work reveals the underlying physics limiting the electron mobility of 2D semiconductors and offers a descriptor to quickly assess the mobility.

• Received 2 July 2020
• Accepted 1 September 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.177701