Controlling the work function of molybdenum disulfide by in situ metal deposition

Control of the work function of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) under ultrathin metal was investigated using in situ metal deposition and direct ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy measurement in an ultra-high vacuum system. When the metal thickness turned from two dimensional into bulk, the work function was also raised up at the nickel-MoS2 interface, barely changed at the titanium-MoS2 interface and lowered at the hafnium-MoS2 interface. Meanwhile, the mechanisms of charge transfer and band alignment with metal deposition were also discussed. The Schottky barrier at metal-MoS2 interfaces could be tailored by both types and thicknesses of deposited metal. The low work function metal was a good indicator for MoS2 contact electrodes. It paved the way towards future high performance MoS2 device applications.