Field-Effect Transistors Based on Few-Layered α-MoTe₂

Here we report the properties of field-effect transistors based on a few layers of chemical vapor transport grown α-MoTe2 crystals mechanically exfoliated onto SiO2. We performed field-effect and Hall mobility measurements, as well as Raman scattering and transmission electron microscopy. In contrast to both MoS2 and MoSe2, our MoTe2 field-effect transistors are observed to be hole-doped, displaying on/off ratios surpassing 10(6) and typical subthreshold swings of ∼140 mV per decade. Both field-effect and Hall mobilities indicate maximum values approaching or surpassing 10 cm(2)/(V s), which are comparable to figures previously reported for single or bilayered MoS2 and/or for MoSe2 exfoliated onto SiO2 at room temperature and without the use of dielectric engineering. Raman scattering reveals sharp modes in agreement with previous reports, whose frequencies are found to display little or no dependence on the number of layers. Given that MoS2 is electron-doped, the stacking of MoTe2 onto MoS2 could produce ambipolar field-effect transistors and a gap modulation. Although the overall electronic performance of MoTe2 is comparable to those of MoS2 and MoSe2, the heavier element Te leads to a stronger spin-orbit coupling and possibly to concomitantly longer decoherence times for exciton valley and spin indexes.