Low Resistance P-type Contacts to Monolayer WSe$_2$ through Chlorinated Solvent Doping

Abstract

Tungsten diselenide (WSe$_2$) is a promising p-type semiconductor limited by high contact resistance ($R_\textrm{C}$) and the lack of a reliable doping strategy. Here, we demonstrate that exposing WSe$_2$ to chloroform provides simple and stable p-type doping. In monolayer WSe$_2$ transistors with Pd contacts, chloroform increases the maximum hole current by over 100$\times$ (>200 $\mu$A/$\mu$m), reduces $R_\textrm{C}$ to ~2.5 k$\Omega\cdot\mu$m, and retains an on/off ratio of $10^{10}$ at room temperature. These improvements persist for over 8 months, survive annealing above 150 {\deg}C, and remain effective down to 10 K, enabling a cryogenic $R_\textrm{C}$ of ~1 k$\Omega\cdot\mu$m. Density functional theory indicates that chloroform strongly physisorbs to WSe$_2$, inducing hole doping with minimal impact on the electronic states between the valence band and conduction band edges. Auger electron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy reveal that chloroform intercalates at the WSe$_2$ interface with the gate oxide, contributing to doping stability and mitigating interfacial dielectric disorder. This robust, scalable approach enables high-yield WSe$_2$ transistors with good p-type performance.