Grain Boundaries as Electrical Conduction Channels in Polycrystalline Monolayer WS₂

We show that grain boundaries (GBs) in polycrystalline monolayer WS₂ can act as conduction channels with a lower gate onset potential for field-effect transistors made parallel, compared to devices made in pristine areas and perpendicular to GBs. Localized doping at the GB causes photoluminescence quenching and a reduced Schottky barrier with the metal electrodes, resulting in higher conductivity at lower applied bias values. Samples are grown by chemical vapor deposition with large domains of ∼100 μm, enabling numerous devices to be made within single domains, across GBs and at many similar sites across the substrate to reveal similar behaviors. We corroborate our electrical measurements with Kelvin probe microscopy, highlighting the nature of the doping-type in the material to change at the grain boundaries. Molecular dynamics simulations of the GB are used to predict the atomic structure of the dislocations and meandering tilt GB behavior on the nanoscale. These results show that GBs can be used to provide conduction pathways that are different to transport across GBs and in pristine area for potential electronic applications.