Correlation effects in two-dimensional MX_2 and MA_2Z_4 (M= Nb, Ta; X= S, Se, Te; A=Si, Ge; Z=N, P) cold metals: Implications for device applications

Abstract

Cold metals, characterized by their distinctive band structures, hold promise for innovative electronic devices such as tunnel diodes with negative differential resistance (NDR) effect and field-effect transistors (FETs) with sub-60 mV/dec subthreshold swing (SS). In this study, we employ the GW approximation and HSE06 hybrid functional to investigate the correlation effects on the electronic band structure of two-dimensional (2D) cold metallic materials, specifically focusing on MX_2 and MA_2Z_4 (M=Nb, Ta; X=S, Se, Te; A=Si, Ge; Z= N, P) compounds in 1H structure. These materials exhibit a unique band structure with an isolated metallic band around the Fermi energy, denoted as W_m, as well as two energy gaps: the internal gap E^I_g below the Fermi level and the external gap E^E_g above the Fermi level. These three electronic structure parameters play a decisive role in determining the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of tunnel diodes, the nature of the NDR effect, and the transfer characteristics and SS value of FETs. Our calculations reveal that both GW and HSE06 methods yield consistent electronic structure properties for all studied compounds. We observed a consistent increase in both internal and external band gaps, as well as metallic bandwidths, across all pn-type cold metal systems. Notably, the internal band gap E^I_g exhibits the most substantial enhancement, highlighting the sensitivity of these materials to correlation effects. In contrast, the changes in the metallic bandwidth W_m and external band gap E^E_g are relatively modest. These findings offer valuable insights for designing and optimizing cold metal-based devices. Materials like NbSi_2N_4, NbGe_2N_4, and TaSi_2N_4 show particular promise for high-performance NDR tunnel diodes and sub-60 mV/dec SS FETs.