Effects of metal contacts and doping for high-performance field-effect transistor based on tungsten diselenide (WSe2)

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) with two-dimensional layered structure, such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and tungsten diselenide (WSe2), are considered attractive materials for future semiconductor devices due to its relatively superior electrical, optical, and mechanical properties. Their excellent scalability down to a monolayer based on the van der Waals layered structure without surface dangling bonds makes semiconductor devices based on TMD free from short channel effect. In comparison to the widely studied transistor based on MoS2, researchs focusing on WSe2 transistor are still limited. WSe2 is more resistant to oxidation in humid ambient condition and relatively air-stable than sulphides such as MoS2. These properties of WSe2 provide potential to fabricate high-performance filed-effect transistor if outstanding electronic characteristics can be achieved by suitable metal contacts and doping phenomenon. Here, we demonstrate the effect of two different metal contacts (titanium and platinum) in field-effect transistor based on WSe2, which regulate electronic characteristics of device by controlling the effective barreier height of the metal-semiconductor junction. Electronic properties of WSe2 transistor were systematically investigated through monitoring of threshold voltage shift, carrier concentration difference, on-current ratio, and field-effect mobility ratio with two different metal contacts. Additionally, performance of transistor based on WSe2 is further enhanced through reliable and controllable n-type doping method of WSe2 by triphenylphosphine (PPh3), which activates the doping phenomenon by thermal annealing process and adjust the doping level by controlling the doping concentration of PPh3. The doping level is controlled in the non-degenerate regime, where performance parameters of PPh3 doped WSe2 transistor can be optimized.