We report on the transport and low-frequency noise measurements of MoS2 thin-film transistors with thin (2-3 atomic layers) and thick (15-18 atomic layers) channels. The back-gated transistors made with the relatively thick MoS2 channels have advanta
ges of the higher electron mobility and lower noise level. The normalized noise spectral density of the low-frequency 1/f noise in thick MoS2 transistors is of the same level as that in graphene. The MoS2 transistors with the atomically thin channels have substantially higher noise levels. It was established that, unlike in graphene devices, the noise characteristics of MoS2 transistors with thick channels (15-18 atomic planes) could be described by the McWhorter model. Our results indicate that the channel thickness optimization is crucial for practical applications of MoS2 thin-film transistors.
The measurements of the high - temperature current - voltage characteristics of MoS2 thin - film transistors show that the devices remain functional to temperatures of at least as high as 500 K. The temperature increase results in decreased threshold
voltage and mobility. The comparison of the DC and pulse measurements shows that the DC sub - linear and super - linear output characteristics of MoS2 thin - films devices result from the Joule heating and the interplay of the threshold voltage and mobility temperature dependences. At temperatures above 450 K, an intriguing phenomenon of the memory step - a kink in the drain current - occurs at zero gate voltage irrespective of the threshold voltage value. The memory step effect was attributed to the slow relaxation processes in thin films similar to those in graphene and electron glasses. The obtained results suggest new applications for MoS2 thin - film transistors in extreme - temperature electronics and sensors.
We demonstrated selective gas sensing with MoS2 thin-film transistors using the change in the channel conductance, characteristic transient time and low-frequency current fluctuations as the sensing parameters. The back-gated MoS2 thin-film field-eff
ect transistors were fabricated on Si/SiO2 substrates and intentionally aged for a month to verify reliability and achieve better current stability. The same devices with the channel covered by 10 nm of Al2O3 were used as reference samples. The exposure to ethanol, acetonitrile, toluene, chloroform, and methanol vapors results in drastic changes in the source-drain current. The current can increase or decrease by more than two-orders of magnitude depending on the analyte. The reference devices with coated channel did not show any response. It was established that transient time of the current change and the normalized spectral density of the low-frequency current fluctuations can be used as additional sensing parameters for selective gas detection with thin-film MoS2 transistors.
We report on the results of the low-frequency (1/f, where f is frequency) noise measurements in MoS2 field-effect transistors revealing the relative contributions of the MoS2 channel and Ti/Au contacts to the overall noise level. The investigation of
the 1/f noise was performed for both as fabricated and aged transistors. It was established that the McWhorter model of the carrier number fluctuations describes well the 1/f noise in MoS2 transistors, in contrast to what is observed in graphene devices. The trap densities extracted from the 1/f noise data for MoS2 transistors, are 1.5 x 10^19 eV-1cm-3 and 2 x 10^20 eV-1cm-3 for the as fabricated and aged devices, respectively. It was found that the increase in the noise level of the aged MoS2 transistors is due to the channel rather than the contact degradation. The obtained results are important for the proposed electronic applications of MoS2 and other van der Waals materials.
We present estimates of the performance limits of terahertz detectors based on the field effect transistors (FET) in the regime of broadband detection. The maximal responsivity is predicted for short-channel FETs in the subthreshold regime. We also c
alculate the conversion efficiency Q of the device defined as the ratio of the power dissipated by radiation-induced dc current to the THz dissipated power. We show that Q has an absolute maximum as a function of two variables: the power and the frequency of the incoming radiation. The maximal value of Q is on the order of 10%
