Controlled vanadium doping of mos2 thin films through co-sputtering and thermal sulfurization

Abstract

Recently, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have gained great attention owing to their remarkable properties. The electronic structure of TMDs can be modified by substitutional doping, which could give rise to novel and exciting properties. In this study, a strategy is presented for controlled vanadium (V) doping of MoS2, in which V doped MoS2 films with good uniformity are prepared by thermal sulfurization of V-Mo alloy films deposited using co-sputtering. The V incorporation in MoS2 induces p type doping, which enhances the electrical conductivity of MoS2 by a factor of 35-40. Such doping strategy and consequent conductivity improvement may be useful in many applications such as catalysis, nanoelectronics and optoelectronics.