Interlayer resistance of misoriented MoS₂

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Nanoscience

Background:

• Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) exhibit unique properties influenced by interlayer stacking.
• The impact of interlayer misorientation on electrical resistance in TMDs remains largely unexplored.
• Understanding interlayer coupling is key to tailoring TMD electronic behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of interlayer misorientation on the interlayer resistance of bilayer Molybdenum Disulfide (MoS2).
• To determine the relationship between misorientation angle and electron/hole resistivity in MoS2.
• To explore the potential applications of misorientation-dependent transport in electronic devices.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Density Functional Theory (DFT) to compute interlayer coupling elements.
• Calculated electron and hole resistivity as a function of misorientation angle.
• Analyzed the role of wave functions at high symmetry points in determining transport properties.

Main Results:

• Interlayer misorientation was found to exponentially increase electron resistivity in bilayer MoS2.
• Hole resistivity remained largely unaffected by changes in misorientation angle.
• The observed physics are applicable to various semiconducting TMDs.

Conclusions:

• Interlayer misorientation has a significant, angle-dependent impact on electron transport in TMDs.
• The asymmetric response of electron and hole transport to misorientation offers opportunities for device engineering.
• This research paves the way for optimizing vertical transport devices, such as bipolar transistors, using controlled misorientation in TMDs.