CMOS-compatible Strain Engineering for High-Performance Monolayer Semiconductor Transistors

Abstract

Strain engineering has played a key role in modern silicon electronics, having been introduced as a mobility booster in the 1990s and commercialized in the early 2000s. Achieving similar advances with two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors in a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) compatible manner would radically improve the industrial viability of 2D transistors. Here, we show silicon nitride capping layers can impart strain to monolayer MoS2 transistors on conventional silicon substrates, enhancing their electrical performance with a low thermal budget (350 °C), CMOS-compatible approach. Strained back-gated and dual-gated MoS2 transistors demonstrate median increases up to 60% and 45% in on-state current, respectively. The greatest improvements are found when both transistor channels and contacts are reduced to ~200 nm, reaching saturation currents of 488 uA/um, higher than any previous reports at such short contact pitch. Simulations reveal that most benefits arise from tensile strain lowering the contact Schottky barriers, and that further reducing device dimensions (including contacts) will continue to offer increased strain and performance improvements.

References in corpus (13)

• Improved Contacts to MoS2 Transistors by Ultra-High Vacuum Metal Deposition
• High Current Density in Monolayer MoS${}_2$ Doped by AlO${}_x$
• Optical detection of strain and doping inhomogenieties in single layer MoS2
• How to Report and Benchmark Emerging Field-Effect Transistors
• Strain-Enhanced Mobility of Monolayer MoS2
• Intrinsic Electrical Transport and Performance Projections of Synthetic Monolayer MoS2 Devices
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• Strain Engineering 2D MoS${}_2$ with Thin Film Stress Capping Layers
• Strain induced mobility modulation in single-layer MoS${}_2$
• Strain-engineering the Schottky barrier and electrical transport on MoS2
• Biaxial Tensile Strain Enhances Electron Mobility of Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides
• Pressurizing Field-Effect Transistors of Few-Layer MoS2 in a Diamond Anvil Cell
• Toward Low-Temperature Solid-Source Synthesis of Monolayer MoS2

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