Development of Ultrafine Semiconductor Electrodes... A Clue to 'More Moore'

Schematic diagram depicting a two-dimensional transition metal telluride compound synthesized on a large-area substrate

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] Domestic researchers have developed a new electrode material and succeeded in implementing high-performance ultra-fine semiconductor devices. The research team predicted that this technology would serve as a foundation for ushering in the era of More Moore, surpassing the 'Moore's Law' that ended in 2016. Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) announced on the 7th that the research results of Professor Sunyong Kwon's team from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering were published in the June 20 issue of Nature Electronics.

The research team developed a new material that can be used as an electrode material for ultra-fine semiconductors. They succeeded in synthesizing a two-dimensional telluride compound. Although this material is highly regarded as an electrode material applicable to two-dimensional semiconductor devices, synthesizing the compound was challenging. The team formed the compound by trapping tellurium gas evaporated from metal alloy raw materials using a specific method.

Seungwook Song, a doctoral researcher in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UNIST, explained, "We confirmed that adding an appropriate amount of tellurium to certain metals like copper (Cu) or nickel (Ni) causes liquefaction at relatively low temperatures. Using a growth technique that traps and reacts tellurium atoms emitted from this liquid, we synthesized two-dimensional metal electrode materials on a large scale."

The telluride compound developed by the research team possesses properties suitable for use as an electrode material in ultra-fine semiconductors. This material exhibits excellent physical and electrical characteristics compared to mechanically exfoliated two-dimensional materials, as almost no defects occur during synthesis. Notably, it can be produced using existing semiconductor processes, enabling cost reduction.

UNIST stated, "The new two-dimensional metal electrode material is atomically thin and is expected to be applied to thin-film semiconductor materials such as graphene, accelerating the miniaturization of semiconductor devices."

The research team also succeeded in placing two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide, a two-dimensional semiconductor, on the synthesized two-dimensional electrode. As a result, the energy barrier (Schottky barrier) at the metal-semiconductor interface was very low, close to theoretical values, facilitating electron mobility. This means that electron movement at the semiconductor junction occurs smoothly without additional processing.

Professor Sunyong Kwon said, "The newly synthesized metal electrode and semiconductor junction have very few defects," adding, "especially since controlling the energy barrier (Schottky barrier), which is known to be difficult to achieve with commercial metal wiring technology, is possible, we expect that further research will help realize next-generation semiconductors with both N-type and P-type characteristics."

Growth of Large-Area Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Telluride Compounds and Semiconductor Performance Control Using Them

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