Oxide-mediated self-limiting recovery of field effect mobility in plasma-treated MoS${}_2$

Abstract

Precise tunability of electronic properties of 2D nanomaterials is a key goal of current research in this field of materials science. Chemical modification of layered transition metal dichalcogenides leads to the creation of heterostructures of low-dimensional variants of these materials. In particular, the effect of oxygen-containing plasma treatment on molybdenum disulfide (MoS${}_2$) has long been thought to be detrimental to the electrical performance of the material. Here we show that the mobility and conductivity of MoS${}_2$ can be precisely controlled and improved by systematic exposure to oxygen:argon plasma, and characterise the material utilising advanced spectroscopy and microscopy. Through complementary theoretical modelling which confirms conductivity enhancement, we uncover the role of a two-dimensional phase of molybdenum trioxide (2D-MoO${}_3$) in improving the electronic behaviour of the material. Deduction of the beneficial role of MoO${}_3$ will serve to open the field to new approaches with regard to the tunability of 2D semiconductors by their low-dimensional oxides in nano-modified heterostructures.

11 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (7)

• Anomalous Lattice Vibrations of Single and Few-Layer MoS2
• Emerging Device Applications for Semiconducting Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenides
• Mobility engineering and metal-insulator transition in monolayer MoS2
• Gate-tunable Memristive Phenonmena Mediated by Grain Boundaries in Single Layer MoS2
• Electrical property tuning via defect engineering of single layer MoS2 by oxygen plasma
• Tuning the Threshold Voltage of MoS2 Field-Effect Transistors via Surface Treatment
• On-Stack Two-Dimensional Conversion of MoS2 into MoO3

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Bridging the gap between atomically thin semiconductors and metal leads
• Photoresponsivity enhancement in monolayer MoS${}_2$ by rapid O${}_2$:Ar plasma treatment
• Defect-Moderated Oxidative Etching of MoS2
• On the switching mechanism and optimisation of ion irradiation enabled 2D $Mo{S}_2$ memristors
• Enhanced chemical vapour deposition of monolayer MoS2 films via a clean promoter