Multi-terminal transport measurements of MoS2 using a van der Waals heterostructure device platform

Abstract

Atomically thin two-dimensional semiconductors such as MoS2 hold great promise in electrical, optical, and mechanical devices and display novel physical phenomena. However, the electron mobility of mono- and few-layer MoS2 has so far been substantially below theoretically predicted limits, which has hampered efforts to observe its intrinsic quantum transport behaviours. Potential sources of disorder and scattering include both defects such as sulfur vacancies in the MoS2 itself, and extrinsic sources such as charged impurities and remote optical phonons from oxide dielectrics. To reduce extrinsic scattering, here we developed a van der Waals heterostructure device platform where MoS2 layers are fully encapsulated within hexagonal boron nitride, and electrically contacted in a multi-terminal geometry using gate-tunable graphene electrodes. Magneto-transport measurements show dramatic improvements in performance, including a record-high Hall mobility reaching 34,000 cm2/Vs for 6-layer MoS2 at low temperature, confirming that low-temperature performance in previous studies was limited by extrinsic interfacial impurities rather than bulk defects in the MoS2. We also observed Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations for the first time in high-mobility monolayer and few-layer MoS2. Modeling of potential scattering sources and quantum lifetime analysis indicate that a combination of short-ranged and long-ranged interfacial scattering limits low-temperature mobility of MoS2.