Efficient ohmic contact in monolayer field-effect transistors
Phys. Rev. Applied 24, 024027 – Published 12 August, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/vqsp-81cc
Abstract
Experimentally fabricated semiconducting monolayers with a high electron mobility of approximately and exceptional environmental stability are promising for next-generation electronic device applications, such as field-effect transistors (FETs). However, the challenge of achieving Ohmic contacts with electrode metals persists. This study systematically investigates the interfacial properties of monolayer -based transistors with various common metals (, , , , , , , and ) as electrodes, leveraging first-principles calculations and quantum transport simulations. Our findings reveal that metal-induced gap states enable to form Ohmic contacts with all metal electrodes except in the vertical direction. Furthermore, the absence of a tunneling barrier results in high carrier injection efficiency in the , /, /, and / interfaces. The strong Fermi level pinning effects confine the Schottky barrier of metal lateral contacts to a small value. Notably, and FETs demonstrate ideal Ohmic contacts in both vertical and lateral directions, with electrodes exhibiting the highest contact quality in -based FETs. The transfer behaviors of the FETs nearly satisfy the standards in the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors for high-performance devices, aligning with the predicted quality of the electrode contacts. This work provides valuable theoretical guidance for the design of high-performance FETs utilizing .