Hole mobility enhancement and p -doping in monolayer WSe ₂ by gold decoration

Tungsten diselenide (WSe 2 ) is an attractive transition metal dichalcogenide material, since its Fermi energy close to the mid gap makes it an excellent candidate for realizing p–n junction devices and complementary digital logic applications. Doping is one of the most important technologies for controlling the Fermi energy in semiconductors, including 2D materials. Here we present a simple, stable and controllable p -doping technique on a WSe 2 monolayer, where a more p -typed WSe 2 field effect transistor is realized by electron transfer from the WSe 2 to the gold (Au) decorated on the WSe 2 surfaces. Related changes in Raman spectroscopy are also reported. The p -doping caused by Au on WSe 2 monolayers lowers the channel resistance by orders of magnitude. The effective hole mobility is ∼100 (cm 2 /Vs) and the near ideal subthreshold swing of ∼60 mV/decade and high on/off current ratio of >10 6 are observed. The Au deposited on the WSe 2 also serves as a protection layer to prevent a reaction between the WSe 2 and the environment, making the doping stable and promising for future scalable fabrication.