High Current Density and Low Thermal Conductivity of Atomically Thin Semimetallic WTe2

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) semimetals beyond graphene have been relatively unexplored in the atomically-thin limit. Here we introduce a facile growth mechanism for semimetallic WTe2 crystals, then fabricate few-layer test structures while carefully avoiding degradation from exposure to air. Low-field electrical measurements of 80 nm to 2 um long devices allow us to separate intrinsic and contact resistance, revealing metallic response in the thinnest encapsulated and stable WTe2 devices studied to date (3 to 20 layers thick). High-field electrical measurements and electro-thermal modeling demonstrate that ultra-thin WTe2 can carry remarkably high current density (approaching 50 MA/cm2, higher than most common interconnect metals) despite a very low thermal conductivity (of the order ~3 W/m/K). These results suggest several pathways for air-stable technological viability of this layered semimetal.

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• High Current Density in Monolayer MoS${}_2$ Doped by AlO${}_x$
• Quasi-ballistic thermal transport across MoS${}_2$ thin films
• Superconductivity in Potassium-intercalated Td-WTe2
• Direct evidence for charge compensation induced large magnetoresistance in thin WTe2
• Mixed-Salt Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition of Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenides
• Engineering Thermal and Electrical Interface Properties of Phase Change Memory with Monolayer MoS2
• Effect of aging-induced disorder on the quantum transport properties of atomically thin WTe${}_2$
• Thermally-Driven Charge-Density-Wave Transitions in 1T-TaS2 Thin-Film Devices: Prospects for GHz Switching Speed
• The heat equation for nanoconstrictions in 2D materials with Joule self-heating
• Substrate-Dependence of Monolayer MoS${}_2$ Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Boundary Conductance