Biaxial Tensile Strain Enhances Electron Mobility of Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides
Jerry A. Yang, Robert K. A. Bennett, Lauren Hoang, Zhepeng Zhang, Kamila J. Thompson, Antonios Michail, John Parthenios, Konstantinos Papagelis, Andrew J. Mannix, Eric Pop
Abstract
Strain engineering can modulate the properties of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors for electronic and optoelectronic applications. Recent theory and experiments have found that uniaxial tensile strain can improve the electron mobility of monolayer MoS 2, a 2D semiconductor, but the effects of biaxial strain on charge transport are not well characterized in 2D semiconductors. Here, we use biaxial tensile strain on flexible substrates to probe electron transport in monolayer WS 2 and MoS 2 transistors. This approach experimentally achieves ∼2× higher on-state current and mobility with ∼0.3% applied biaxial strain in WS 2, the highest mobility improvement at the lowest strain reported to date. We also examine the mechanisms behind this improvement through density functional theory simulations, concluding that the enhancement is primarily due to reduced intervalley electron–phonon scattering. These results underscore the role of strain engineering in 2D semiconductors for flexible electronics, sensors, integrated circuits, and other optoelectronic applications.