Sub-10 nm Monolayer MoS₂ Transistors Using Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes as an Evaporating Mask

Transition-metal dichalcogenides are promising challengers to conventional semiconductors owing to their remarkable electrical performance and suppression of short-channel effects (SCEs). In particular, monolayer molybdenum disulfide has exhibited superior suppression of SCEs owing to its atomic thickness, high effective carrier mass, and low dielectric constant. However, difficulties still remain in large-scale stable fabrication of nanometer-scale channels. Herein, a method to fabricate electrodes with sub-10 nm gaps was demonstrated using horizontally aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes as an evaporation mask. The widths of the nanogaps exhibit robust stability to various process parameters according to the statistical results. Based on these nanogaps, ultrashort-channel length monolayer MoS₂ field-effect transistors were produced. Monolayer MoS₂ devices with a 7.5 nm channel length and a 10 nm thick HfO₂ dielectric layer exhibited excellent performances with an ON/OFF ratio up to 10⁷, a mobility of 17.4 cm²/V·s, a subthreshold swing of about 120 mV/dec, and a drain-induced barrier lowering of about 140 mV/V, all of which suggest a superior suppression of SCEs. This work provides a universal and stable method for large-scale fabrication of ultrashort-channel 2D-material transistors.