Enhancing photoresponsivity using MoTe2-graphene vertical heterostructures

Abstract

MoTe2 with a narrow band-gap of ∼1.1 eV is a promising candidate for optoelectronic applications, especially for the near-infrared photo detection. However, the photo responsivity of few layers MoTe2 is very small (<1 mA W−1). In this work, we show that a few layer MoTe2-graphene vertical heterostructures have a much larger photo responsivity of ∼20 mA W−1. The trans-conductance measurements with back gate voltage show on-off ratio of the vertical transistor to be ∼(0.5–1) × 105. The rectification nature of the source-drain current with the back gate voltage reveals the presence of a stronger Schottky barrier at the MoTe2-metal contact as compared to the MoTe2-graphene interface. In order to quantify the barrier height, it is essential to measure the work function of a few layers MoTe2, not known so far. We demonstrate a method to determine the work function by measuring the photo-response of the vertical transistor as a function of the Schottky barrier height at the MoTe2-graphene interface tuned by electrolytic top gating.