Direct evaporation of single-crystal metal contacts for 2D semiconductors
Metal contacts remain one of the key bottlenecks in two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor electronics. We developed an atomic-scale step-by-step evaporation method to directly grow single-crystal metals on monolayer semiconductors with clean interfaces. This method accesses a distinct growth-kinetic window that suppresses secondary nucleation and promotes lateral coalescence, enabling van der Waals epitaxy of diverse metals—including bismuth, silver, indium, gold, and palladium—on molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) and tungsten diselenide (WSe 2 ). The single-crystal metals support ultrathin conduction, provide spatially uniform work functions, and exhibit improved thermal robustness. As contacts, they show minimal Fermi-level pinning, approaching the Schottky–Mott limit. With bismuth and palladium contacts, monolayer MoS 2 and WSe 2 transistors achieved ultralow n- and p-type contact resistances of 36 and 145 ohm-micrometers, respectively, and short-channel currents both above 1.1 milliampere per micrometer.
Authors
- Yan Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-4076-867X)
- Binmin Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3421-6654)
- Bei Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7105-6680)
- Shuimei Ding (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-2775-3023)
- Junhao Chu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1867-9296)
- Hong Shen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6283-6506)
- Shuaiqin Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1769-8583)
- Jianlu Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0388-6148)
- Lain‐Jong Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4059-7783)
- Xuming Zou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4553-6338)
- Xudong Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0261-6736)
- Chang Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4708-4470)
- Yuan Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0024-9290)
- Xiangjian Meng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4178-9362)
- Yilu Qin
- Wencheng Niu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5479-8779)
- Guichen Teng
- Ni Yang
- Tie Lin
- Huiting Wang
- Ying Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-3353-6969)
Institutions
- Shanghai University of Engineering Science (CN)
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- Institute of Microelectronics (CN)
- San’an Optoelectronics (China) (CN)
- Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Hunan Agricultural University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2026-08-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aee3132
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- 2D Materials and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.01
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Department
- Overseas Expertise Introduction Center for Discipline Innovation of Food Nutrition and Human Health (111 Center)