Current Carrying Capacity of Quasi-1D ZrTe3 Van Der Waals Nanoribbons

Quasi-1D van der Waals materials, such as transition metal trichalcogenides, have strong covalent bonds in one direction and weaker bonds in crossplane directions. They can be prepared as crystalline nanowires or nanoribbons consisting of 1D atomic threads, i.e., chains. We have examined the current carrying capacity of ZrTe
₃
nanoribbons using a set of structures fabricated by the shadow mask method. The bulk crystals were synthesized by the chemical vapor transport method and exfoliated onto Si/SiO
₂
substrates. It was found that ZrTe
₃
nanoribbons reveal an exceptionally high current density, on the order of ~100 MA/cm
₂
, at the peak of the stressing DC current. The low-frequency noise was of 1/f type near room temperature (f is the frequency). The noise amplitude scaled with the resistance, following the trend established for other low-dimensionalmaterials. The high current density in ZrTe
₃
can be attributed to the single-crystalnature of quasi-1D van der Waals materials.