Investigation of the abrupt phase transition in 1T-TaS2/MoS2 heterostructures

Electrically induced phase transitions are being investigated for applications in steep-slope transistors, neuromorphic computing, and coupled oscillator networks. Here, we present an avenue to integrate a layered 2D phase transition material 1T-TaS
2
with monolayer MoS
2
via direct synthesis. We experimentally demonstrate that the charge density wave (CDW) based phase transition is preserved when grown directly on MoS
2
, however a 42% reduction in the ON/OFF ratio compared to exfoliated devices is observed. First principles calculations of the 1T-TaS
2
/MoS
2
heterostructure reveal a 39% reduction in the bandgap of 1T-TaS
2
compared to the free-standing 1T-TaS
2
case.