Abstract
Electron-donors can impart charge to the surface of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) films while interacting with the film via a weak physisorption bond, making them ideal for vapor and gas sensors. We expose monolayer MoS2 and MoSe2 films to strong electron-donor chemical vapor analytes. After analyzing the resultant behavior and taking into consideration doping effects, we conclude that exposure to strong electron-donors could be a method of inducing the semiconductor-metal 2H-1T TMD phase transition. We find that the conductance response to strong electron donors in both monolayer MoS2 and MoSe2 FET devices ceases after moderate exposure, with final value of the conductance being on order of that expected for the 1T phase. Full device relaxation back to a semiconducting state is accomplished by annealing in vacuum at 400 °C. We also examine chemically exposed TMD films intermittently interrogated with Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy. We observe the appearance of weak characteristic 1T phase Raman features for MoS2 and we observed a quenching of the photoluminescence of both TMD films that is recoverable with annealing. Considering all of our data together, the effects cannot be described by doping alone. Additionally, our results suggest a mechanism for a new type of passive chemical vapor sensor.
Highlights
Since the discovery in 2004–20051 that single monolayer films of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) can be isolated from the bulk due to weak interlayer van der Waals bonding, these materials have continued to reveal new and remarkable behaviors and properties
The semiconductor-metal 2H-1T phase transition in TMDs creates a route towards field effect transistor (FET)-based electronic device engineering of either the channel or the contacts in a reversible, repeatable, and non-damaging yet robust way[8, 9]
Because multiple phases can exist in the same TMD film, one cannot expect a complete suppression of PL for a partially transitioned film, but at most a partial reduction in PL15
Summary
After analyzing the resultant behavior and taking into consideration doping effects, we conclude that exposure to strong electron-donors could be a method of inducing the semiconductor-metal 2H-1T TMD phase transition. The higher conductance state persisted even after all analyte had almost certainly desorbed from the film surface, and the samples recovered their original optical and electronic properties after annealing above the likely transition temperature These behaviors support the conclusion of a vapor-induced partial phase change. To provide further corroborating evidence that the MoX2 films undergo the phase transition, we used Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) to characterize the films before and after exposure to strong electron donor analytes
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