Engineering 2D Van der Waals Electrode via MBE‐Grown Weyl Semimetal 1T′‐WTe <sub>2</sub> for Enhanced Photodetection in InSe
Achieving low contact resistance in advanced quantum electronic devices remains a critical challenge. With the growing demand for faster and energy-efficient devices, 2D contact engineering offers a promising solution. Beyond graphene, 1T'-WTe<sub>2</sub> has attracted attention for its excellent electrical transport, quantum phenomena, and Weyl semimetallic properties. Here, the direct wafer-scale growth of 1T'-WTe<sub>2</sub> via molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and its use as a 2D contact for layered materials, such as InSe, are demonstrated. The 1T'-WTe<sub>2</sub>/InSe interface exhibits a barrier height nearly half that of conventional metal contacts, and its contact resistance is reduced by a factor of 21, effectively suppressing Fermi-level pinning and enabling efficient electron injection. InSe/1T'-WTe<sub>2</sub> photodetectors show broad photoresponsivity (0.14-217.58 A W<sup>-1</sup>) under NIR to DUV illumination with fast rise/fall times of 42/126 ms, compared to lower responsivity (8.65 × 10<sup>-4</sup>-3.64 A W<sup>-1</sup>) and slower response (150/144 ms) for InSe/Ti-Au devices. The 1T'-WTe<sub>2</sub>/InSe devices thus exhibit ≈60 × higher responsivity and ≈4 × faster response than conventional metal contacts. These results establish MBE-grown 1T'-WTe<sub>2</sub> as an effective 2D electrode, enhancing photodetection performance while simplifying device architecture, making it a strong candidate for next-generation nanoelectronic and optoelectronic devices.
Authors
- Nahid Chaudhary (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5532-8626)
- Taslim Khan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5120-8505)
- Biswajit Khan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4030-9736)
- Rajendra Singh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6890-6904)
- Suprovat Ghosh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7073-5991)
- Kritika Bhattacharya (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0874-6750)
- Samaresh Das (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4159-1962)
- Santanu Kandar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4670-5499)
- Pawan Kumar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2968-172X)
Institutions
- Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Small
- Published
- 2025-10-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202504150
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- 2D Materials and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.04