Synthesis of mono- and few-layered n-type WSe2 from solid state inorganic precursors

Abstract

Tuning the charge transport properties of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) is pivotal to their future device integration in post-silicon technologies. To date, co-doping of TMDs during growth still proves to be challenging, and the synthesis of doped WSe₂, an otherwise ambipolar material, has been mainly limited to p-doping. Here, we demonstrate the synthesis of high-quality n-type monolayered WSe₂ flakes using a solid-state precursor for Se, zinc selenide. n-Type transport has been reported with prime electron mobilities of up to 10 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹. We also demonstrate the tuneability of doping to p-type transport with hole mobilities of 50 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ after annealing in air. n-Doping has been attributed to the presence of Zn adatoms on the WSe₂ flakes as revealed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), spatially resolved time of flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) and angular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (AD-STEM) characterization of WSe₂ flakes. Monolayer WSe₂ flakes exhibit a sharp photoluminescence (PL) peak at room temperature and highly uniform emission across the entire flake area, indicating a high degree of crystallinity of the material. This work provides new insight into the synthesis of TMDs with charge carrier control, to pave the way towards post-silicon electronics.