Schottky Barrier Variable Graphene/Multilayer-MoS₂ Heterojunction Transistor Used to Overcome Short Channel Effects

A single-layer MoS₂ achieves excellent gate controllability within the nanoscale channel length of a field-effect transistor (FET) owing to an ultra-short screening length. However, multilayer MoS₂ (ML-MoS₂) is more vulnerable to short channel effects (SCEs) owing to its thickness and long screening length. We eliminated the SCEs in an ML-MoS₂ FET (thickness of 4-13 nm) at a channel length of sub-30 nm using a Schottky barrier (SB) variable graphene/ML-MoS₂ heterojunction. Although the band modulation in the ML-MoS₂ channel worsens with a decrease in the channel length, which is similar to the SCEs occurring in conventional FETs, the variable Fermi level (E_F) of a graphene electrode along the gate voltage allows control of the SB at the graphene/MoS₂ junction and backs up the current modulation through a variable SB. Electrical measurements and a theoretical band simulation demonstrate the efficient SB modulation of our graphene nanogap (GrNG) ML-MoS₂ FET with three distinct carrier transports along V_gs: a thermionic emission at a low SB, Fowler-Nordheim tunneling at a moderate SB, and direct tunneling at a high SB. Our GrNG FET shows an extremely high on-off current ratio of ∼10⁸, which is approximately three-orders of magnitude better than a previously reported metal nanogap (MeNG) FET and a self-aligned metal/graphene nanogap FET with a similar MoS₂ thickness. Our GrNG FET also exhibits a 100,000-times higher on-off ratio, 100-times lower subthreshold swing, and 10-times lower drain induced barrier.