Van der Waals epitaxial growth and optoelectronics of a vertical MoS₂/WSe₂ p–n junction

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted extensive attention due to their unique electronic and optical properties. In particular, TMDs can be flexibly combined to form diverse vertical van der Waals (vdWs) heterostructures without the limitation of lattice matching, which creates vast opportunities for fundamental investigation of novel optoelectronic applications. Here, we report an atomically thin vertical p–n junction WSe₂/MoS₂ produced by a chemical vapor deposition method. Transmission electron microscopy and steady-state photoluminescence experiments reveal its high quality and excellent optical properties. Back gate field effect transistor (FET) constructed using this p–n junction exhibits bipolar behaviors and a mobility of 9 cm²/(V·s). In addition, the photodetector based on MoS₂/WSe₂ heterostructures displays outstanding optoelectronic properties (R = 8 A/W, D* = 2.93 × 10¹¹ Jones, on/off ratio of 10⁴), which benefited from the built-in electric field across the interface. The direct growth of TMDs p–n vertical heterostructures may offer a novel platform for future optoelectronic applications.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

MoS₂ / WSe₂ / Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) / Vertical heterostructure / Optoelectronic transistor

References

[1] Zeng, H., Dai, J., Yao, W., Xiao, D., Cui, X.: Valley polarization in MoS² monolayers by optical pumping. Nat. Nanotechnol. 7(8), 490–493 (2012)

[2] Duan, X., Wang, C., Pan, A., Yu, R., Duan, X.: Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides as atomically thin semiconductors: opportunities and challenges. Chem. Soc. Rev. 44(24), 8859–8876 (2015)

[3] Seyler, K.L., Schaibley, J.R., Gong, P., Rivera, P., Jones, A.M., Wu, S., Yan, J., Mandrus, D.G., Yao, W., Xu, X.: Electrical control of second-harmonic generation in a WSe₂ monolayer transistor. Nat. Nanotechnol. 10(5), 407–411 (2015)

[4] Li, H., Wang, X., Zhu, X., Duan, X., Pan, A.: Composition modulation in one-dimensional and two-dimensional chalcogenide semicon-ductor nanostructures. Chem. Soc. Rev. 47(20), 7504–7521 (2018)

[5] Zheng, W., Zheng, B., Yan, C., Liu, Y., Sun, X., Qi, Z., Yang, T., Jiang, Y., Huang, W., Fan, P., Jiang, F., Ji, W., Wang, X., Pan, A.: Direct vapor growth of 2D vertical heterostructures with tunable band alignments and interfacial charge transfer behaviors. Adv. Sci. 6(7), 1802204 (2019)

[6] Luo, Z., Zheng, W., Luo, N., Liu, B., Zheng, B., Yang, X., Liang, D., Qu, J., Liu, H., Chen, Y., Jiang, Y., Chen, S., Zou, X., Pan, A.: Photoluminescence lightening: extraordinary oxygen modulated dynamics in WS₂ monolayers. Nano. Lett. 22(5), 2112–2119 (2022)

[7] Lu, Z.H., Baribeau, J.M., Lockwood, D.J.: Quantum confinement and light emission in SiO₂/Si superlattices. Nature 378(6554), 258–260 (1995)

[8] Liu, H., Zhu, X., Sun, X., Zhu, C., Huang, W., Zhang, X., Zheng, B., Zou, Z., Luo, Z., Wang, X., Li, D., Pan, A.: Self-powered broad-band photodetectors based on vertically stacked WSe₂/ Bi₂Te₃ p–n heterojunctions. ACS Nano 13(11), 13573–13580 (2019)

[9] Yuan Y., Zhang, X., Liu, H., Yang, T., Zheng, W., Zheng, B., Jiang, F., Li, L. Li, D., Zhu, X., Pan, A.: Growth of CdSe/MoS₂ vertical heterostructures for fast visible-wavelength photodetectors. J. Alloys Compd. 815, 152309 (2020)

[10] Jeon, H.B., Shin, G.H., Lee, K.J., Choi, S.Y.: Vertical-tunneling field-effect transistor based on WSe₂-MoS₂ heterostructure with ion gel dielectric. Adv. Electron. Mater. 6(7), 2000091 (2020).

[11] Gong, Y., Lin, J., Wang, X., Shi, G., Lei, S., Lin, Z., Zou, X., Ye, G., Vajtai, R., Yakobson, B.I., Terrones, H., Terrones, M., Tay, B.K., Lou, J., Pantelides, S.T., Liu, Z., Zhou, W., Ajayan, P.M.: Vertical and in-plane heterostructures from WS₂/MoS₂ monolayers. Nat. Mater. 13(12), 1135–1142 (2014)

[12] Li, M.Y., Shi, Y., Cheng, C.C., Lu, L.S., Lin, Y.C., Tang, H.L., Tsai, M.L., Chu, C.W., Wei, K.H., He, J.H., Chang, W.H., Suenaga, K., Li, L.J.: NANOELECTRONICS. Epitaxial growth of a monolayer WSe₂-MoS₂ lateral p–n junction with an atomically sharp interface. Science 349(6247), 524–528 (2015)

[13] Li, F., Feng, Y., Li, Z., Ma, C., Qu, J., Wu, X., Li, D., Zhang, X., Yang, T., He, Y., Li, H., Hu, X., Fan, P., Chen, Y., Zheng, B., Zhu, X., Wang, X., Duan, X., Pan, A.: Rational kinetics control toward universal growth of 2D vertically stacked heterostructures. Adv. Mater. 31(27), e1901351 (2019)

[14] Yang, T., Zheng, B., Wang, Z., Xu, T., Pan, C., Zou, J., Zhang, X., Qi, Z., Liu, H., Feng, Y., Hu, W., Miao, F., Sun, L., Duan, X., Pan, A.: Van der Waals epitaxial growth and optoelectronics of large-scale WSe₂/SnS₂ vertical bilayer p–n junctions. Nat. Commun. 8(1), 1906 (2017)

[15] Wu, X., Wang, X., Li, H., Zeng, Z., Zheng, B., Zhang, D., Li, F., Zhu, X., Jiang, Y., Pan, A.: Vapor growth of WSe₂/WS₂ hetero-structures with stacking dependent optical properties. Nano Res. 12(12), 3123–3128 (2019)

[16] Li, F., Xu, B., Yang, W., Qi, Z., Ma, C., Wang, Y., Zhang, X., Luo, Z., Liang, D., Li, D., Li, Z., Pan, A.: High-performance opto-electronic devices based on van der Waals vertical MoS₂/MoSe₂ heterostructures. Nano Res. 13(4), 1053–1059 (2020)

[17] Zhang, W., Chiu, M.H., Chen, C.H., Chen, W., Wee, A.: Role of metal contacts in high-performance phototransistors based on WSe₂ monolayers. ACS Nano 8(8), 8653–8661 (2014)

[18] Huang, Y., Deng, H.X., Xu, K., Wang, Z.X., Wang, Q.S., Wang, F.M., Wang, F., Zhan, X.Y., Li, S.S., Luo, J.W., He, J.: Highly sensitive and fast phototransistor based on large size CVD-grown SnS₂ nanosheets. Nanoscale 7(33), 14093–14099 (2015)

[19] Sanne, A., Ghosh, R., Rai, A., Yogeesh, M.N., Shin, S.H., Sharma, A., Jarvis, K., Mathew, L., Rao, R., Akinwande, D., Banerjee, S.: Radio frequency transistors and circuits based on CVD MoS₂. Nano. Lett. 15(8), 5039–5045 (2015)

[20] Kwon, H., Garg, S., Park, J.H., Jeong, Y., Yu, S., Kim, S.M., Kung, P., Im, S.: Monolayer MoS₂ field-effect transistors patterned by photolithography for active matrix pixels in organic light-emitting diodes. NPJ 2D Mater. Appl. 3(1), 9 (2019)

[21] Shidpour, R., Manteghian, M.: A density functional study of strong local magnetism creation on MoS₂ nanoribbon by sulfur vacancy. Nanoscale 2(8), 1429–1435 (2010)

[22] Komsa, H.-P., Krasheninnikov, A.V.: Effects of confinement and environment on the electronic structure and exciton binding energy of MoS₂ from first principles. Phys. Rev. B 86(24), 241201 (2012)

[23] Gong, F., Fang, H., Wang, P., Su, M., Li, Q., Ho, J.C., Chen, X., Lu, W., Liao, L., Wang, J., Hu, W.: Visible to near-infrared photodetectors based on MoS₂ vertical Schottky junctions. Nanotechnology. 28(48), 484002 (2017)

[24] Chen, Y., Wang, X., Wu, G., Wang, Z., Fang, H., Lin, T., Sun, S., Shen, H., Hu, W., Wang, J., Sun, J., Meng, X., Chu, J.: High-performance photovoltaic detector based on MoTe₂/MoS₂ van der Waals heterostructure. Small 14(9), 1870038 (2018)

[25] Liu, B., Tang, B., Lv, F., Zeng, Y., Liao, J., Wang, S., Chen, Q.: Photodetector based on heterostructure of two-dimensional WSe₂/In₂Se₃. Nanotechnology 31(6), 065203 (2020)

[26] Wang, P., Liu, S., Luo, W., Fang, H., Gong, F., Guo, N., Chen, Z.G., Zou, J., Huang, Y., Zhou, X., Wang, J., Chen, X., Lu, W., Xiu, F., Hu, W.: Arrayed van der Waals broadband detectors for dual-band detection. Adv. Mater. 29(16), 1604439 (2017)

[27] Li, C., Yan, X., Song, X., Bao, W., Ding, S., Zhang, D.W., Zhou, P.: WSe₂/MoS₂ and MoTe₂/SnSe₂ van der Waals heterostructure transistors with different band alignment. Nanotechnology 28(41), 415201 (2017)

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2022 The Author(s) 2022