Manganese and chromium doping in atomically thin MoS₂

Abstract

Recently, two-dimensional materials have been attracting increasing attention because of their novel properties and promising applications. However, the impurity doping remains a significant challenge owing to the lack of the doping strategy in the atomically thin layers. Here we report on the chromium (Cr) and manganese (Mn) doping in atomically-thin crystals grown by chemical vapor deposition. The Cr/Mn doped samples are characterized by a peak at 1.76 and 1.79 eV in photoluminescence spectra, respectively, compared with the undoped one at 1.85 eV. The field-effect transistor (FET) devices based on the Mn doping show a higher threshold voltage than that of the pure while the Cr doping exhibits the opposite behavior. Importantly, the carrier concentration in these samples displays a remarkable difference arising from the doping effect, consistent with the evolution of the FET performance. The temperature-dependent conductivity measurements further demonstrate a large variation in activation energy. The successful incorporation of the Mn and Cr impurities into the monolayer paves the way towards the high Curie temperature two-dimensional dilute magnetic semiconductors.