Harnessing defects for high-performance MoS2 tunneling field-effect transistors

IMPACT STATEMENT The defect-assisted resonant Zener tunneling mechanism in TFET introduced by the mid-gap states of the vacancies in MoS2 is beneficial for enhancing the on-state current. The two-dimensional (2D) materials-based tunneling field-effect transistors (TFETs) suffer from low driving currents. In contrast to the prevailing wisdom that defects are detrimental, we proposed to harness the ubiquitous defects in MoS2 to overcome the problem of the low on-state current in TFET. The existence of certain molybdenum-related vacancies and sulfur vacancy in appropriate positions confers the higher driving currents without compromising the low-power benefits. Such performance enhancements are related to the defect-assisted resonant Zener tunneling mechanism introduced by the mid-gap states of the vacancy defects. These unveiled hidden defect benefits could provide new opportunities for boosting the performance of 2D TFETs.