Electrical and photo-electrical properties of MoS₂ nanosheets with and without an Al₂O₃ capping layer under various...

The electrical and photo-electrical properties of exfoliated MoS₂ were investigated in the dark and in the presence of deep ultraviolet (DUV) light under various environmental conditions (vacuum, N₂ gas, air, and O₂ gas). We examined the effects of environmental gases on MoS₂ flakes in the dark and after DUV illumination through Raman spectroscopy and found that DUV light induced red and blue shifts of peaks (E¹_2 g and A_1 g) position in the presence of N₂ and O₂ gases, respectively. In the dark, the threshold voltage in the transfer characteristics of few-layer (FL) MoS₂ field-effect transistors (FETs) remained almost the same in vacuum and N₂ gas but shifted toward positive gate voltages in air or O₂ gas because of the adsorption of oxygen atoms/molecules on the MoS₂ surface. We analyzed light detection parameters such as responsivity, detectivity, external quantum efficiency, linear dynamic range, and relaxation time to characterize the photoresponse behavior of FL-MoS₂ FETs under various environmental conditions. All parameters were improved in their performances in N₂ gas, but deteriorated in O₂ gas environment. The photocurrent decayed with a large time constant in N₂ gas, but decayed with a small time constant in O₂ gas. We also investigated the characteristics of the devices after passivating by Al₂O₃ film on the MoS₂ surface. The devices became almost hysteresis-free in the transfer characteristics and stable with improved mobility. Given its outstanding performance under DUV light, the passivated device may be potentially used for applications in MoS₂-based integrated optoelectronic circuits, light sensing devices, and solar cells.