Strain-Induced Modulation of Electron Mobility in Single-Layer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides MX2 ( $M = {\rm Mo}$ , W; $X = {\rm S}$ , Se)

In this paper, the effect of biaxial strain on the mobility of single-layer transition metal dichalcogenides (MoS
₂
, MoSe
₂
, WS
₂
, and WSe
₂
) is investigated by accounting for the scattering from intrinsic phonon modes, remote phonons, and charged impurities. Ab initio simulations are employed to study a strain-induced effect on the electronic band structure, and the linearized Boltzmann transport equation is used to evaluate the low-field mobility. The results indicate that tensile strain increases the mobility. In particular, a significant increase in the mobility of single-layer MoSe
₂
and WSe
₂
with a relatively small tensile strain is observed. Under a compressive strain, however, the mobility exhibits a nonmonotonic behavior. With a relatively small compressive strain, the mobility decreases and then it partially recovers with a further increase in the compressive strain.