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Realization of vertical and lateral van der Waals heterojunctions using two-dimensional layered organic semiconductors

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Abstract

Van der Waals (vdW) heterojunctions based on two-dimensional (2D) atomic crystals have been extensively studied in recent years. Herein, we show that both vertical and lateral vdW heterojunctions can be realized with layered molecular crystals using a two-step physical vapor transport (PVT) process. Both types of heterojunctions show clean and sharp interfaces without phase mixing under atomic force microscopy (AFM). They also exhibit a strong interfacial built-in electric field similar to that of their inorganic counterparts. These heterojunctions have greater potential for device applications than individual materials. The lateral heterojunction (LHJ) devices show rectifying characteristics due to the asymmetric energy barrier for holes at the interface, while the vertical heterojunction (VHJ) devices behave like metal–insulator–semiconductor tunnel junctions, with pronounced negative differential conductance (NDC). Our work extends the concept of vdW heterojunctions to molecular materials, which can be generalized to other layered organic semiconductors (OSCs) to obtain new device functionalities.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by National Basic Research Program of China (Nos. 2013CBA01604 and 2015CB921600), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61325020, 61261160499, 11274154, and 61521001), Research Grant Council of Hong Kong (No. SARN_CUHK405/12), Collaborative Innovation Center of Solid-State Lighting and Energy-Saving Electronics, “Jiangsu Shuangchuang” program and “Jiangsu Shuangchuang Team” Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China

    Yuhan Zhang, Zhongzhong Luo, Jianbin Xu, Yi Shi & Xinran Wang

  2. School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China

    Fengrui Hu & Xiaoyong Wang

  3. Department of Physics, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, China

    Haiyan Nan & Zhenhua Ni

  4. Department of Electronic Engineering and Materials Science and Technology Research Center, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Jianbin Xu

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  1. Yuhan Zhang
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  2. Zhongzhong Luo
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  4. Haiyan Nan
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  8. Yi Shi
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  9. Xinran Wang
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Correspondence to Yi Shi or Xinran Wang.

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Zhang, Y., Luo, Z., Hu, F. et al. Realization of vertical and lateral van der Waals heterojunctions using two-dimensional layered organic semiconductors. Nano Res. 10, 1336–1344 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1442-5

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