Electronic transport, metal-insulator transition, and Wigner crystallization in transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers

By analyzing transport data from high-mobility transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) WSe₂ monolayers and considering realistic disorder scattering, the authors explain here the observed nonmonotonic carrier density dependence of mobility and the linear temperature-dependent resistivity in the metallic phase. They theoretically examine the metal-insulator transition (MIT) critical density and the melting temperature of Wigner crystallization (WC), suggesting that the observed two-dimensional low-density MIT likely results from the complex interplay between disorder effects and interaction-driven WC physics.