Probing the electron states and metal-insulator transition mechanisms in molybdenum disulphide vertical heterostructures

Xiaolong Chen, Zefei Wu, Shuigang Xu, Lin Wang, Rui Huang, Yu Han, Weiguang Ye, Wei Xiong, Tianyi Han, Gen Long, Yang Wang, Yuheng He, Yuan Cai, Ping Sheng and Ning Wang ()
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Xiaolong Chen: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Zefei Wu: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Shuigang Xu: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Lin Wang: Group of Applied Physics, University of Geneva
Rui Huang: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Yu Han: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Weiguang Ye: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Wei Xiong: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Tianyi Han: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Gen Long: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Yang Wang: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Yuheng He: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Yuan Cai: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Ping Sheng: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Ning Wang: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract The metal-insulator transition is one of the remarkable electrical properties of atomically thin molybdenum disulphide. Although the theory of electron–electron interactions has been used in modelling the metal-insulator transition in molybdenum disulphide, the underlying mechanism and detailed transition process still remain largely unexplored. Here we demonstrate that the vertical metal-insulator-semiconductor heterostructures built from atomically thin molybdenum disulphide are ideal capacitor structures for probing the electron states. The vertical configuration offers the added advantage of eliminating the influence of large impedance at the band tails and allows the observation of fully excited electron states near the surface of molybdenum disulphide over a wide excitation frequency and temperature range. By combining capacitance and transport measurements, we have observed a percolation-type metal-insulator transition, driven by density inhomogeneities of electron states, in monolayer and multilayer molybdenum disulphide. In addition, the valence band of thin molybdenum disulphide layers and their intrinsic properties are accessed.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7088

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