Scaling behavior of hysteresis in multilayer MoS2 field effect transistors

Extrinsic hysteresis effects are often observed in MoS2 field effect devices due to adsorption of gas molecules on the surface of MoS2 channel. Scaling is a common method used in ferroics to quantitatively study the hysteresis. Here, the scaling behavior of hysteresis in multilayer MoS2 field effect transistors with a back-gated configuration was investigated. The power-law scaling relations were obtained for hysteresis area (⟨A⟩) and memory window (ΔV) with varying the region of back-gate voltage (Vbg,max). It is interesting to find that the transition voltage in the forward sweep (VFW) and in the backward sweep (VBW) shifted to the opposite directions of back-gate voltage (Vbg) with increasing Vbg,max. However, when decreasing Vbg,max, VFW shifted to positive and reversibly recovered, but VBW almost kept unchanged. The evolution of ⟨A⟩, ΔV, VFW, and VBW with Vbg,max were discussed by the electrons transferring process between the adsorbate and MoS2 channel.