Coulomb blockade in monolayer MoS2 single electron transistor

Abstract

Substantial effort has been dedicated to understand the intrinsic electronic properties of molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂). However, electron transport study on monolayer MoS₂ has been challenging to date, especially at low temperatures due to large metal/semiconductor junction barriers. Herein, we report the fabrication and characterization of the monolayer MoS₂ single-electron transistor. High performance devices are obtained through the use of low work function metal (zinc) contact and a rapid thermal annealing step. Coulomb blockade is observed at low temperatures and is attributed to single-electron tunneling via two tunnel junction barriers. The nature of Coulomb blockade is also investigated by temperature-dependent conductance oscillation measurement. Our results hold promise for the study of novel quantum transport phenomena in 2D semiconducting atomic layer crystals.