Di-Metal Chalcogenides: A New Family of Promising 2-D Semiconductors for High-Performance Transistors

Transistors, composed of natural atomically thin 2-D semiconductors, have shown great potential for electronics beyond silicon-based complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology. Here, we explore the group-11-chalcogen semiconductors (
$\text{M}_{{2}}\text{X}$
: M = Au, Ag; X = S, Se, Te), a recently discovered 2-D family, for transistor applications and assess the performance limit of transistors comprised of these semiconductors using first-principles-based nanoscale device simulations.
$\text{M}_{{2}}\text{X}$
transistors’ performance is encouraging and competitive among promising 2-D transistors, down to 5 nm gate length. The best performing transistor is n-type, composed of Au
$_{{2}}\text{S}$
, with a large
${I}_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle ON}}/{I}_{ \mathrm{\scriptscriptstyle OFF}}$
ratio (
${10}^{{4}}$
) and good electrostatic control (subthreshold slope (SS) < 70 mV/decade) for 5 nm gate length.