Tunable Schottky barriers in ultrathin black phosphorus field effect transistors via polymer capping

Abstract

It is still a great challenge to avoid the degradation of ultrathin black phosphorus (BP) since its discovery in 2014. Various methods have been explored to stabilize the properties of ultrathin BP through capping technology or chemical passivation. Besides, the large metal–semiconductor contact resistance is also one of the critical issues. The two problems hinder the further development of ultrathin BP devices. Herein, we demonstrate that polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) capping can not only enhance the durability of the ultrathin BP effectively and nondestructively, but also tune the effective Schottky barriers (SBs) formed at the interfaces between the metal and semiconductor dramatically. Particularly, the Schottky barrier (SB) for electron injection from metal to semiconductor is decreased by ~13 meV and the performance of the BP field effect transistor (FET) is strongly enhanced with the current on/off ratio increased by 6.8 times for the hole conduction after the PMMA capping. In addition, after the electron beam irradiation to the PMMA layer, the charge neutral point of the BP FET exhibits remarkable negative shift resulting in the electron dominated semiconductor channel at zero gate voltage. Furthermore, through partially capping the BP channel, a prototype of BP p-n diode was demonstrated with a maximum rectification factor of 21.3. The diode performs quite well with just a quarter of the BP channel capped by the PMMA layer. Our findings suggest that the PMMA capped ultrathin BP would be a promising choice for future device applications.