LAUSR

Transition-metal-doped MoS2 has been predicted to be a potential candidate for a two dimensional dilute magnetic semiconductor, while the effect of transition metal dopants on the electrical properties of MoS2-based devices has received relatively less attention so far. Here, the authors report on a systematic electrical transport study of Fe-dusted few-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) field-effect transistors via repeated in situ Fe deposition (total nominal thickness ≤ 2 nm) and electrical measurements in ultrahigh vacuum. It is found that an ultrathin Fe adsorption layer (≪0.5 nm) n-dopes MoS2 without noticeably affecting the electrical characteristics of the device. In contrast, a thicker Fe layer (0.5–2 nm) results in the loss of the carrier tunability and a nonlinear current-voltage characteristic with the differential conductance approximately linear to drain voltage. The authors show through result analysis and qualitative modeling that Fermi level pinning in MoS2 directly underneath Fe nanoclust...