The isolation of graphene in 2004 from graphite was a defining moment for the “birth” of a field: two-dimensional (2D) materials In recent years, there has been a rapidly increasing number of papers focusing on non-graphene layered materials, including transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), because of the new properties and applications that emerge upon 2D confinement Here, we review significant recent advances and important new developments in 2D materials “beyond graphene” We provide insight into the theoretical modeling and understanding of the van der Waals (vdW) forces that hold together the 2D layers in bulk solids, as well as their excitonic properties and growth morphologies Additionally, we highlight recent breakthroughs in TMD synthesis and characterization and discuss the newest families of 2D materials, including monoelement 2D materials (ie, silicene, phosphorene, etc) and transition metal carbide- and carbon nitride-based MXenes We then discuss the doping and functionalization of 2

Recent Advances in Two-Dimensional Materials beyond Graphene

We report a new strategy for fabricating 2D/2D low-resistance ohmic contacts for a variety of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) using van der Waals assembly of substitutionally doped TMDs as drain/source contacts and TMDs with no intentional doping as channel materials. We demonstrate that few-layer WSe2 field-effect transistors (FETs) with 2D/2D contacts exhibit low contact resistances of ∼0.3 kΩ μm, high on/off ratios up to >10(9), and high drive currents exceeding 320 μA μm(-1). These favorable characteristics are combined with a two-terminal field-effect hole mobility μFE ≈ 2 × 10(2) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) at room temperature, which increases to >2 × 10(3) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) at cryogenic temperatures. We observe a similar performance also in MoS2 and MoSe2 FETs with 2D/2D drain and source contacts. The 2D/2D low-resistance ohmic contacts presented here represent a new device paradigm that overcomes a significant bottleneck in the performance of TMDs and a wide variety of other 2D materials as the channel materials in postsilicon electronics.

Low-Resistance 2D/2D Ohmic Contacts: A Universal Approach to High-Performance WSe2, MoS2, and MoSe2 Transistors

Rhenium disulfide (ReS2) is a two-dimensional (2D) group VII transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD). It is attributed with structural and vibrational anisotropy, layer-independent electrical and optical properties, and metal-free magnetism properties. These properties are unusual compared with more widely used group VI-TMDs, e.g., MoS2, MoSe2, WS2 and WSe2. Consequently, it has attracted significant interest in recent years and is now being used for a variety of applications including solid state electronics, catalysis, and, energy harvesting and energy storage. It is anticipated that ReS2 has the potential to be equally used in parallel with isotropic TMDs from group VI for all known applications and beyond. Therefore, a review on ReS2 is very timely. In this first review on ReS2, we critically analyze the available synthesis procedures and their pros/cons, atomic structure and lattice symmetry, crystal structure, and growth mechanisms with an insight into the orientation and architecture of domain and grain boundaries, decoupling of structural and vibrational properties, anisotropic electrical, optical, and magnetic properties impacted by crystal imperfections, doping and adatoms adsorptions, and contemporary applications in different areas.

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Advent of 2D Rhenium Disulfide (ReS2): Fundamentals to Applications

Two-dimensional materials present a versatile platform for developing steep transistors due to their uniform thickness and sharp band edges. We demonstrate 2D-2D tunneling in a WSe2/SnSe2 van der Waals vertical heterojunction device, where WSe2 is used as the gate controlled p-layer and SnSe2 is the degenerately n-type layer. The van der Waals gap facilitates the regulation of band alignment at the heterojunction, without the necessity of a tunneling barrier. ZrO2 is used as the gate dielectric, allowing the scaling of gate oxide to improve device subthreshold swing. Efficient gate control and clean interfaces yield a subthreshold swing of ∼100 mV/dec for >2 decades of drain current at room temperature, hitherto unobserved in 2D-2D tunneling devices. The subthreshold swing is independent of temperature, which is a clear signature of band-to-band tunneling at the heterojunction. A maximum switching ratio ION/IOFF of 107 is obtained. Negative differential resistance in the forward bias characteristics is observed at 77 K. This work bodes well for the possibilities of two-dimensional materials for the realization of energy-efficient future-generation electronics.

2D-2D tunneling field-effect transistors using WSe2/SnSe2 heterostructures

Recent research in two-dimensional (2D) materials has boosted a renovated interest in the p–n junction, one of the oldest electrical components which can be used in electronics and optoelectronics. 2D materials offer remarkable flexibility to design novel p–n junction device architectures, not possible with conventional bulk semiconductors. In this Review we thoroughly describe the different 2D p–n junction geometries studied so far, focusing on vertical (out-of-plane) and lateral (in-plane) 2D junctions and on mixed-dimensional junctions. We discuss the assembly methods developed to fabricate 2D p–n junctions making a distinction between top-down and bottom-up approaches. We also revise the literature studying the different applications of these atomically thin p–n junctions in electronic and optoelectronic devices. We discuss experiments on 2D p–n junctions used as current rectifiers, photodetectors, solar cells and light emitting devices. The important electronics and optoelectronics parameters of the discussed devices are listed in a table to facilitate their comparison. We conclude the Review with a critical discussion about the future outlook and challenges of this incipient research field.

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Atomically thin p-n junctions based on two-dimensional materials.

In this work, we report lateral heterojunction formation in as-exfoliated MoS2 flakes by thickness modulation. Kelvin probe force microscopy is used to map the surface potential at the monolayer-multilayer heterojunction, and consequently the conduction band offset is extracted. Scanning photocurrent microscopy is performed to investigate the spatial photocurrent response along the length of the device including the source and the drain contacts as well as the monolayer-multilayer junction. The peak photocurrent is measured at the monolayer-multilayer interface, which is attributed to the formation of a type-I heterojunction. The work presents experimental and theoretical understanding of the band alignment and photoresponse of thickness modulated MoS2 junctions with important implications for exploring novel optoelectronic devices.

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MoS2 Heterojunctions by Thickness Modulation

This work demonstrates a method for incorporating strain in silicon nanowire gate-all-around (GAA) n-MOSFETs by oxidation-induced bending of the nanowire channel and reports on the resulting improvement in device performance. The variation in strain measured during processing is discussed. The strain profile in silicon nanowires is evaluated by Raman spectroscopy both before device gate stack fabrication (tensile strains of up to 2.5% are measured) and by measurement through the polysilicon gate on completed electrically characterized devices. Drain current boosting in bended n-channels is investigated as a function of the transistor operation regime, and it is shown that the enhancement depends on the effective electrical field. The maximum observed electron mobility enhancement is on the order of 100% for a gate bias near the threshold voltage. Measurements of stress through the full gate stack and experimental device characteristics of the same transistor reveal a stress of 600 MPa and corresponding improvements of the normalized drain current, normalized transconductance, and low-field mobility by 34% (at maximum gate overdrive), 50% (at g max), and 53%, respectively, compared with a reference nonstrained device at room temperature. Finally, it is found that, at low temperatures, the low-field mobility is much higher in bended devices, compared with nonbended devices.

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The High-Mobility Bended n-Channel Silicon Nanowire Transistor

In this paper, a new and simple silicon straight tube is tested as a fluid density sensor. The tube structure has a hexagonal cross section. The fabrication process consists of anisotropic silicon etching and silicon fusion bonding. A tube structure with a length of 2.65 cm was tested. The sample volume is 9.3 μL. The first three modes of vibrations were investigated with a laser Doppler vibrometer for air and five liquid mixtures. The fluid density sensitivity of each mode was measured and the average was −256 ± 6 ppm (kg m−3)−1 around the density of water. The density of an unknown fluid can be continuously monitored using this sensor by measuring the resonance frequency of one of the vibration modes and extracting the density from the calibration curves.

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A silicon straight tube fluid density sensor

In this paper, a multilayer ReS2 p–n homojunction is fabricated on an oxidized Si substrate, and its photoemission under a forward bias and its photodetection under a reverse bias are reported for the first time. Au nanoparticles were used to make lateral p–n homojunctions. The device shows room temperature photoemission in the IR range, and in the photodetector mode, it shows a 0.41 A/W responsivity under illumination by a 660 nm red laser.

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M. Najmzadeh

Papers

MoS2 Heterojunctions by Thickness Modulation

The High-Mobility Bended n-Channel Silicon Nanowire Transistor

A silicon straight tube fluid density sensor

Multilayer ReS2 lateral p–n homojunction for photoemission and photodetection

Silicon nanowires with lateral uniaxial tensile stress profiles for high electron mobility gate-all-around MOSFETs