Ultrashort channel chemical vapor deposited bilayer WS₂ field-effect transistors

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are potential candidates for next generation channel materials owing to their atomically thin structure and high carrier mobility, which allow for the ultimate scaling of nanoelectronics. However, TMDs-based field-effect transistors are still far from delivering the expected performance, which is mainly attributed to their high contact resistance and low saturation velocity ( vsat). In this work, we report high-performance short-channel WS2 transistors based on bandgap engineering. The bilayer WS2 channel not only shows a higher average field-effect mobility ( μFE) than the monolayer channel but also exhibits excellent metal-Ohmic contact using a regular physical vapor deposition deposited Ni/Au contact, reducing the Rc value to a record low value of 0.38 kΩ · μm without any intentional doping. The bilayer WS2 device of the 80 nm channel exhibits a high on-state current of 346 μA/ μm at Vds = 1 V, near-zero drain-induced barrier lowering, and a record high Ion/ Ioff ratio over 109. Furthermore, a record high on-state current of 635 μA/ μm at Vds = 1 V and a record high vsat of 3.8 × 106 cm/s have been achieved for a shorter 18 nm channel device, much higher than previous WS2 transistors. This work reveals the intrinsically robust nature of bilayer WS2 crystals with promising potential for integration with conventional fabrication processes.