Thickness-modulated metal-to-semiconductor transformation in a transition metal dichalcogenide

The possibility of tailoring physical properties by changing the number of layers in van der Waals crystals is one of the driving forces behind the emergence of two-dimensional materials. One example is bulk MoS₂, which changes from an indirect gap semiconductor to a direct bandgap semiconductor in the monolayer form. Here, we show a much bigger tuning range with a complete switching from a metal to a semiconductor in atomically thin PtSe₂ as its thickness is reduced. Crystals with a thickness of ~13 nm show metallic behavior with a contact resistance as low as 70 Ω·µm. As they are thinned down to 2.5 nm and below, we observe semiconducting behavior. In such thin crystals, we demonstrate ambipolar transport with a bandgap smaller than 2.2 eV and an on/off ratio of ~10⁵. Our results demonstrate that PtSe₂ possesses an unusual behavior among 2D materials, enabling novel applications in nano and optoelectronics.