Electron irradiation of metal contacts in monolayer MoS$_2$ Field-Effect Transistors
A. Pelella, O. Kharsah, A. Grillo, F. Urban, M. Passacantando, F. Giubileo, L. Iemmo, S. Sleziona, E. Pollmann, L. Madauß, M. Schleberger, A. Di Bartolomeo
This work deals with the electron beam irradiation of the Schottky metal contacts in monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS$_2$) field-effect transistors (FETs). We show that the exposure of the Ti/Au source/drain leads to an electron beam improves the transistor conductance. We simulate the path of the electrons in the device and show that most of the beam energy is absorbed in the metal contacts. Hence, we propose that the transistor current enhancement is due to thermally induced interfacial reactions that lower the contact Schottky barriers. We also show that the electron beam conditioning of contacts is permanent, while the irradiation of the channel can produce transient effects.
Electrical characterization of few-layer MoS2 based field effect transistors with Ti/Au electrodes is performed in the vacuum chamber of a scanning electron microscope in order to study the effects of electron beam irradiation on the transport properties of the device. A negative threshold voltage shift and a carrier mobility enhancement is observed and explained in terms of positive charges trapped in the SiO2 gate oxide, during the irradiation. The transistor channel current is increased up to three order of magnitudes after the exposure to an irradiation dose of 100e-/nm2. Finally, a comple…
Palladium diselenide (PdSe2) is a recently isolated layered material that has attracted a lot of interest for the pentagonal structure, the air stability and the electrical properties largely tunable by the number of layers. In this work, PdSe2 is used in the form of multilayer as the channel of back-gate field-effect transistors, which are studied under repeated electron irradiations. Source-drain Pd leads enable contacts with resistance below 350 kOhm um. The transistors exhibit a prevailing n-type conduction in high vacuum, which reversibly turns into ambipolar electric transport at atmosph…
The practical damage of silicon bipolar devices subjected to mixed ionization and displacement irradiations is usually evaluated by the sum of separated ionization and displacement damages. However, recent experiments show clear difference between the practical and summed damages, indicating significant irradiation synergistic effects (ISEs). Understanding the behaviors and mechanisms of ISEs is essential to predict the practical damages. In this work, we first make a brief review on the state of the art, critically emphasizing on the difficulty encountered in previous models to understand the…
Localized residual stress and elastic strain concentrations in microelectronic devices often affect the electronic performance, resistance to thermomechanical damage, and, likely, radiation tolerance. A primary challenge for characterization of these concentrations is that they exist over sub-$μ$m length-scales, precluding their characterization by more traditional residual stress measurement techniques. Here we demonstrate the use of synchrotron X-ray -based differential aperture X-ray microscopy (DAXM) as a viable, non-destructive means to characterize these stress and strain concentrations …
We fabricate monolayer MoS2 field effect transistors and study their electric characteristics from 10^-6 Torr to atmospheric air pressure. We show that the threshold voltage of the transistor increases with the growing pressure. Hence, we propose the device as an air pressure sensor, showing that it is particularly suitable as a low power consumption vacuum gauge. The device functions on pressure-dependent O2, N2 and H2O molecule adsorption that affect the n-doping of the MoS2 channel.
We report a new approach to integrating high-\k{appa} dielectrics in both bottom- and top-gated MoS2 field-effect transistors (FETs) through thermal oxidation and mechanical assembly of layered twodimensional (2D) TaS2. Combined X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements confirm that multilayer TaS2 flakes can be uniformly transformed to Ta2O5 with a high dielectric constant of ~ 15.5 via thermal oxidation, while preserving the geometry and ultra-smooth surfaces of 2D TMDs. Top-gated MoS2 FETs fabricated…
Non-volatile memory devices have been limited to flash architectures that are complex devices. Here, we present a unique photomemory effect in MoS$_2$ transistors. The photomemory is based on a photodoping effect - a controlled way of manipulating the density of free charges in monolayer MoS$_2$ using a combination of laser exposure and gate voltage application. The photodoping promotes changes on the conductance of MoS$_2$ leading to photomemory states with high memory on/off ratio. Such memory states are non-volatile with an expectation of retaining up to 50 % of the information for tens of …
Heterostructures comprising of silicon (Si), molybdenum disulfide (MoS${_2}$) and graphene are investigated with respect to the vertical current conduction mechanism. The measured current-voltage (I-V) characteristics exhibit temperature dependent asymmetric current, indicating thermally activated charge carrier transport. The data is compared and fitted to a current transport model that confirms thermionic emission as the responsible transport mechanism across the devices. Theoretical calculations in combination with the experimental data suggest that the heterojunction barrier from Si to MoS…
We have measured both the current-voltage ($I_\mathrm{SD}$-$V_\mathrm{GS}$) and capacitance-voltage ($C$-$V_\mathrm{GS}$) characteristics of a $\mathrm{MoS_2-LiNbO_3}$ field effect transistor. From the measured capacitance we calculate the electron surface density and show that its gate voltage dependence follows the theoretical prediction resulting from the two-dimensional free electron model. This model allows us to fit the measured $I_\mathrm{SD}$-$V_\mathrm{GS}$ characteristics over the \emph{entire range} of $V_\mathrm{GS}$. Combining this experimental result with the measured current-vol…
Atomically-thin 2D semiconducting materials integrated into van der Waals heterostructures have enabled architectures that hold great promise for next generation nanoelectronics. However, challenges still remain to enable their full acceptance as compliant materials for integration in logic devices. Two key-components to master are the barriers at metal/semiconductor interfaces and the mobility of the semiconducting channel, which endow the building-blocks of ${pn}$ diode and field effect transistor. Here, we have devised a reverted stacking technique to intercalate a wrinkle-free h-BN tunnel …
We demonstrate non-volatile, n-type, back-gated, MoS$_{2}$ transistors, placed directly on an epitaxial grown, single crystalline, PbZr$_{0.2}$Ti$_{0.8}$O$_{3}$ (PZT) ferroelectric. The transistors show decent ON current (19 $μA/μ$m), high on-off ratio (10$^{7}$), and a subthreshold swing of (SS ~ 92 mV/dec) with a 100 nm thick PZT layer as the back gate oxide. Importantly, the ferroelectric polarization can directly control the channel charge, showing a clear anti-clockwise hysteresis. We have selfconsistently confirmed the switching of the ferroelectric and corresponding change in channel cu…
We present a comprehensive study on the effects of proton irradiation at different energies (150 and 590 keV) with the fluence of 1x 1012 proton/cm2 on monolayer MoS2. This study not only improves our understanding of the influence of high-energy proton beams on MoS2 but also has implications for radiation-induced changes in device processing and engineering of devices from multilayer MoS2 starting material. Increasing defect density with decreasing proton irradiation energy was observed from photoluminescence spectroscopy study. These defects are attributed to sulfur vacancies observed throug…
Field-effect transistors (FETs) with non-covalently functionalised molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) channels grown by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) on SiO2 are reported. The dangling-bond-free surface of MoS2 was functionalised with a perylene bisimide derivative to allow for the deposition of Al2O3 dielectric. This allowed the fabrication of top-gated, fully-encapsulated MoS2 FETs. Furthermore, by the definition of vertical contacts on MoS2, devices, in which the channel area was never exposed to polymers, were fabricated. The MoS2 FETs showed high mobilities for transistors fabricated on SiO2 …
Unlike Si, 2-dimensional (2D) Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs) offer atomically thin channels for carrier transport in FETs. Despite advantages like superior gate control, steep sub-threshold swing and high carrier mobility offered by 2D FET channels, process related challenges like lack of selective doping techniques like implantation and CMOS compatible process for fabrication of 2D TMD based FETs hinder the anticipated viability of 2D semiconductor technology for future electronic applications. In this letter, we demonstrate a process oriented approach to realize superior ambipolarit…
The successful detection of biomolecules by a Field Effect Transistor-based biosensor (BioFET) is dictated by the sensor's intrinsic Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR). The detection limit of a traditional BioFET is fundamentally limited by biomolecule diffusion, charge screening, linear charge to surface-potential transduction, and Flicker noise. In this paper, we demonstrate that the recently introduced transistor technology called Negative Capacitor Field effect transistor (NCFET) offers nonlinear charge transduction and suppression of Flicker noise to dramatically improve the SNR over classical B…
We demonstrate an electrically induced, non-volatile, metal-insulator phase transition in a MoS$_2$ transistor. A single crystalline, epitaxially grown, PbZr$_{0.2}$Ti$_{0.8}$O$_3$ (PZT) was placed in the gate of a field effect transistor made of thin film MoS$_2$. When a gate voltage is applied to this ferroelectric gated transistor, a clear transition from insulator to metal and vice versa is observed. Importantly, when the gate voltage is turned off, the remnant polarization in the ferroelectric can keep the MoS$_2$ in its original phase, thereby providing a non-volatile state. Thus a metal…
The hole carrier field-effect mobility of hybrid molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanoparticles suspended in poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) thin film transistor (TFT) was found to be enhanced when it compared to P3HT-only TFTs. The improvement in the hole charge transport was found to be a function of the concentration of MoS2 in P3HT with high MoS2 concentrations resulting in an increase in the on-current of the device. Moreover, Au has a high work function of 5.1 eV which is suitable with the HOMO level of P3HT. We find that MoS2 and Au have the proper energy level for hole transport and injection…
When transistor gate insulators have nanometer-scale equivalent oxide thickness (EOT), the gate capacitance ($C_\textrm{G}$) becomes smaller than the oxide capacitance ($C_\textrm{ox}$) due to the quantum capacitance and charge centroid capacitance of the channel. Here, we study the capacitance of monolayer MoS$_\textrm{2}$ as a prototypical two-dimensional (2D) channel while considering spatial variations in the potential, charge density, and density of states. At 0.5 nm EOT, the monolayer MoS$_\textrm{2}$ capacitance is smaller than its quantum capacitance, limiting the single-gated $C_\text…
The device concept of ferroelectric-based negative capacitance (NC) transistors offers a promising route for achieving energy-efficient logic applications that can outperform the conventional semiconductor technology, while viable operation mechanisms remain a central topic of debate. In this work, we report steep slope switching in MoS$_2$ transistors back-gated by single-layer polycrystalline PbZr$_{0.35}$Ti$_{0.65}$O$_3$. The devices exhibit current on/off ratios up to 8$\times$10$^6$ within an ultra-low gate voltage window of $V_g$ = $\pm$0.5 V and subthreshold swing (SS) as low as 9.7 mV …
We demonstrate the design, fabrication, and characterization of wafer-scale, zero-bias power detectors based on two-dimensional MoS$_2$ field effect transistors (FETs). The MoS$_2$ FETs are fabricated using a wafer-scale process on 8 $μ$m thick polyimide film, which in principle serves as flexible substrate. The performances of two CVD-MoS$_2$ sheets, grown with different processes and showing different thicknesses, are analyzed and compared from the single device fabrication and characterization steps to the circuit level. The power detector prototypes exploit the nonlinearity of the transist…
We report, for CVD-grown monolayer MoS2, the very first results on temporal degradation of material and device performance under electrical stress. Both low and high field regimes of operation are explored at different temperatures, gate bias and stress cycles. During low field operation, current is found to saturate after hundreds of seconds of operation with the current decay time constant being a function of temperature and stress cycle. Current saturation after several seconds during low field operation occurs when a thermal equilibrium is established. However, high field operation, especi…
Boltzmann tyranny poses a fundamental limit to lowering the energy dissipation of conventional MOS devices, a minimum increase of the gate voltage, i.e. 60 mV, is required for a 10-fold increase in drain-to-source current at 300 K. Negative Capacitance (NC) in ferroelectric materials is proposed in order to address this physical limitation of CMOS technology. A polarization destabilization in ferroelectrics causes an effective negative permittivity, resulting in a differential voltage amplification and a reduced subthreshold swing when integrated into the gate stack of a transistor. Recent dem…
Layered semiconductors, such as MoS2, have attracted interest as channel materials for post-silicon and beyond-CMOS electronics. Much attention has been devoted to the monolayer limit, but the monolayer channel is not necessarily advantageous in terms of the performance of field-effect transistors (FETs). Therefore, it is important to investigate the characteristics of FETs that have multilayer channels. Here, we report the staircase-like transfer characteristics of FETs with exfoliated multilayer MoS2 flakes. Atomic force microscope characterizations reveal that the presence of thinner terrac…
Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) have been intensively investigated because of their exclusive physical properties for advanced electronics and optoelectronics. In the present work, we study the MoS2 transistor based on a novel tri-gate device architecture, with dual-gate (Dual-G) in the channel and the buried side-gate (Side-G) for the source/drain regions. All gates can be independently controlled without interference. For a MoS2 sheet with a thickness of 3.6 nm, the Schottky barrier (SB) and non-overlapped channel region can be…
Two-dimensional MoS2 has emerged as promising material for nanoelectronics and spintronics due to its exotic properties. However, high contact resistance at metal semiconductor MoS2 interface still remains an open issue. Here, we report electronic properties of field effect transistor devices using monolayer MoS2 channels and permalloy (Py) as ferromagnetic (FM) metal contacts. Monolayer MoS2 channels were directly grown on SiO2/Si substrate via chemical vapor deposition technique. The increase in current with back gate voltage shows the tunability of FET characteristics. The Schottky barrier …
The measurement of acetone in human breath, a known biomarker for diabetes, can act as an effective screening method for diabetes. While gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy based methods can detect gases in low concentration, they are costly, bulky, need complex sample preparation and are slow. Solid state devices such as Field Effect Transistors (FETs) can perform this faster and at a lower cost. In this work, we present the results of acetone gas sensing by molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) based FETs. MoS2 channel was functionalized with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). When acetone molecules…
A vertical spin metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (spin MOSFET) is a promising low-power device for the post scaling era. Here, using a ferromagnetic-semiconductor GaMnAs-based vertical spin MOSFET with a GaAs channel layer, we demonstrate a large drain-source current IDS modulation by a gate-source voltage VGS with a modulation ratio up to 130%, which is the largest value that has ever been reported for vertical spin field-effect transistors thus far. We find that the electric field effect on indirect tunneling via defect states in the GaAs channel layer is responsible for the…
