Patterned, low-temperature growth of transition metal dichalcogenides for low resistance raised contacts

Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers are promising channel materials for next-generation electronic devices. A challenge is the high contact resistance between monolayer TMDs and metal contacts, especially for holes. In this regard, raised source/drain contacts are promising. However, the direct, patterned growth of raised contacts at CMOS-compatible temperatures remains largely unresolved. We present plasma-free selenization and sulfurization of metal-oxides at substrate temperatures down to 400 °C, compatible with back-end-of-line (BEOL) thermal budgets. To achieve growth at such temperatures, gas-phase chalcogen precursors are first thermally activated at 950 °C. Films grown on single-crystal monolayer TMDs exhibit high crystal quality as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. Raised contacts on WSe2 monolayers fabricated using this approach yield a low hole contact resistance of 0.3 kΩ·μm after chemical doping. This process is shown to be applicable to growing various TMDs, including WS2, MoSe2, MoS2, PtSe2, and NbS2.