Performance enhancement of monolayer MoS2 transistors by atomic layer deposition of high-k dielectric assisted by Al2O3 seed layer

Abstract

In this work, thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) of HfO2 on monolayer (ML) MoS2 with 1 nm Al2O3 seed layer by e-beam evaporation was explored. With the 1 nm Al2O3 seed layer, a uniform HfO2 layer can be deposited on the ML MoS2 with bare influence on the ML MoS2 structure. After coating a uniform HfO2, abundant electrons are accumulated in MoS2 and SiO2 resulting in a high on/off current ratio of ~109 and a dramatic reduction of subthreshold swing (SS) from 1943 to 168 mV/dec of back-gated ML MoS2 transistor on 300 nm SiO2. A low SS of 103 mV/dec was further obtained from top-gated transistor with ~23.3 nm HfO2 as the gate oxide. The results manifest the beneficial influence of using 1 nm Al2O3 on the electrical performance of ML MoS2 transistors, suggesting a feasible strategy for ALD of high-k dielectric layer on ML 2D materials.