The non-volatile electrostatic doping effect in MoTe field-effect transistors controlled by hexagonal boron nitride and a metal gate.

The electrical and optical properties of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) can be effectively modulated by tuning their Fermi levels. To develop a carrier-selectable optoelectronic device, we investigated intrinsically p-type MoTe, which can be changed to n-type by charging a hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) substrate through the application of a writing voltage using a metal gate under deep ultraviolet light. The n-type part of MoTe can be obtained locally using the metal gate pattern, whereas the other parts remain p-type. Furthermore, we can control the transition rate to n-type by applying a different writing voltage (i.e., - 2 to - 10 V), where the n-type characteristics become saturated beyond a certain writing voltage. Thus, MoTe was electrostatically doped by a charged h-BN substrate, and it was found that a thicker h-BN substrate was more efficiently photocharged than a thinner one. We also fabricated a p-n diode using a 0.8 nm-thick MoTe flake on a 167 nm-thick h-BN substrate, which showed a high rectification ratio of ~ 10. Our observations pave the way for expanding the application of TMD-based FETs to diode rectification devices, along with optoelectronic applications.