Development of Doping Technology Enhancing 'Next-Generation' Atomic Layer Semiconductor Performance by 18 Times

Research Results by Professor Lee Cheol-ho's Team at Korea University and Collaborators

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] A technology that improves the speed of next-generation semiconductor devices using atomic-layer semiconductors by more than 18 times compared to existing ones has been developed.

The National Research Foundation of Korea announced on the 29th that Professor Lee Cheol-ho's research team at Korea University, together with Professor Kim Young-duk at Kyung Hee University and Professor Jung Hoo-young at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, developed a remote doping technology that can enhance the charge mobility of atomic-layer semiconductors, specifically molybdenum disulfide.

Atomic-layer semiconductors are thin with a thickness of a single atomic layer and have excellent electrical properties. They are attracting attention as next-generation semiconductor materials to be used in transparent and flexible devices. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is a representative atomic-layer semiconductor material. However, impurities within the semiconductor channel hinder the movement of charges, slowing the development of ultra-high-speed devices.

The research team developed a doping technology that spatially separates impurities so as not to interfere with the path of charges. By stacking three different atomic-layer semiconductors and allowing charges to move between these layers, they designed a structure that reduces collisions with impurities located inside the material or on its surface. Although previous studies attempted to suppress charge scattering by using high-k dielectrics or atomic-layer insulators as gate oxides, there was no technology that simultaneously suppressed charge scattering while doping. The heterojunction device created in this way showed an 18-fold improvement in charge mobility speed compared to existing devices.

The research team expects that this principle can be applied to various doping methods and heterojunction device structures, making it adaptable to other atomic-layer semiconductors as well. They are conducting follow-up research to enable large-area fabrication of electronic devices based on atomic-layer semiconductor materials and to expand to other material groups.

The results of this study were published on the 13th in the international journal Nature Electronics.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.