Electrical Contact between an Ultrathin Topological Dirac Semimetal and a Two-Dimensional Material

Abstract

Ultrathin films of topological Dirac semimetal, Na${}_3$Bi, has recently been revealed as an unusual electronic materials with field-tunable topological phases. Here we investigate the electronic and transport properties of ultrathin Na${}_3$Bi as an electrical contact to two-dimensional (2D) metal, i.e. graphene, and 2D semiconductor, i.e. MoS${}_2$ and WS${}_2$ monolayers. Using combined first-principle density functional theory and nonequilibrium Green's function simulation, we show that the electrical coupling between Na${}_3$Bi bilayer thin film and graphene results in a notable interlayer charge transfer, thus inducing sizable $n$-type doping in the Na${}_3$Bi/graphene heterostructures. In the case of MoS${}_2$ and WS${}_2$ monolayers, the lateral Schottky transport barrier is significantly lower than many commonly studied bulk metals, thus unraveling Na${}_3$Bi bilayer as a high-efficiency electrical contact material for 2D semiconductors. These findings opens up an avenue of utilizing topological semimetal thin film as electrical contact to 2D materials, and further expands the family of 2D heterostructure devices into the realm of topological materials.

arXiv comment8 pages, 6 figures. Authors' accepted version

References in corpus (30)

• The SIESTA method for ab initio order-N materials simulation
• Efficient index handling of multidimensional periodic boundary conditions
• Density functional method for nonequilibrium electron transport
• Discovery of intrinsic ferromagnetism in 2D van der Waals crystals
• Two-Dimensional Material Nanophotonics
• Gate-tunable Room-temperature Ferromagnetism in Two-dimensional Fe${}_3$GeTe${}_2$
• Doping graphene with metal contacts
• Discovery of a Three-dimensional Topological Dirac Semimetal, Na3Bi
• Dirac semimetal and topological phase transitions in A3Bi (A=Na, K, Rb)
• Dirac semimetal in three dimensions
• Three Dimensional Dirac Semimetal and Quantum Transports in Cd3As2
• Observation of a topological 3D Dirac semimetal phase in high-mobility Cd3As2
• First-principles study of the interaction and charge transfer between graphene and metals
• Experimental Realization of a Three-Dimensional Dirac Semimetal
• ab initio modeling of open systems: charge transfer, electron conduction, and molecular switching of a C_{60} device
• Designing electrical contacts to MoS${}_2$ monolayers: A computational study
• Oscillatory crossover from two dimensional to three dimensional topological insulators
• Van der Waals heterostructures for high-performance device applications: challenges and opportunities
• Electrical control of the valley Hall effect in bilayer MoS2 transistors
• Device Perspective for Black Phosphorus Field-Effect Transistors: Contact Resistance, Ambipolar and Scaling
• Quantum criticality between topological and band insulators in $(3+1)$-dimensions
• Electric Field-Tuned Topological Phase Transition in Ultra-Thin Na3Bi - Towards a Topological Transistor
• Anomalous orbital magnetism in Dirac-electron systems: Role of pseudo-spin paramagnetism
• Topological Aspect and Quantum Magnetoresistance of $\beta$-Ag${}_2$Te
• Universal Scaling Laws in Schottky Heterostructures Based on Two-Dimensional Materials
• Valleytronics in merging Dirac cones: All-electric-controlled valley filter, valve and universal reversible logic gate
• Room-temperature chiral charge pumping in Dirac semimetals
• Electric control of topological phase transitions in Dirac semimetal thin films
• Generalized high-energy thermionic electron injection at graphene interface
• Quantum Transport in Air-stable Na3Bi Thin Films

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Multiferroic van der Waals heterostructure FeCl${}_2$/Sc${}_2$CO${}_2$: Nonvolatile electrically switchable electronic and spintronic properties
• Tunable electronic properties and band alignments of MoSi${}_2$N${}_4$/GaN and MoSi${}_2$N${}_4$/ZnO van der Waals heterostructures
• Dirac phonons in two-dimensional materials
• Progress in epitaxial thin-film Na3Bi as a topological electronic material
• Universal model for electron thermal-field emission from two-dimensional semimetals
• Terahertz Polarization Conversion from Optical Dichroism in a Topological Dirac Semimetal
• First Principles Study of 2D Ring-Te and its Electrical Contact with Topological Dirac Semimetal
• Phonon-assisted carrier cooling in h-BN/graphene van der Waals heterostructures