Impact of Contact Gating on Scaling of Monolayer 2D Transistors Using a Symmetric Dual-Gate Structure

The performance and scalability of two-dimensional (2D) field-effect transistors (FETs) are strongly influenced by geometry-defined electrostatics. In most 2D FET studies, the gate overlaps with the source/drain electrodes, allowing the gate potential to modulate the 2D semiconductor underneath the electrodes and ultimately affect carrier transport at the metal-semiconductor interface─a phenomenon known as contact gating. Here, a symmetric dual-gate structure with independently addressable back and top gates is employed to elucidate the impact of contact gating on a monolayer MoS₂ channel. Unlike previous studies of contact gating, this symmetric structure enables quantification of the phenomena through a contact gating factor (β_CG), revealing a ∼2× enhancement in on-state performance in long-channel devices. At scaled dimensions (50 nm channel and 30 nm contact length), the influence of contact gating becomes amplified, yielding a ∼5× increase in on-state performance and a ∼70% reduction in transfer length when contact gating is present. Since many reported record-performance 2D FETs employ back-gate geometries that inherently include contact gating, these results establish contact gating as a critical and previously underappreciated determinant of device performance in the 2D FET landscape.