We investigated the surface potential (V surf ) of exfoliated MoS 2 flakes on bare and Au-coated SiO 2 /Si substrates using Kelvin probe force microscopy. The V surf of MoS 2 single layers was larger on the Au-coated substrates than on the bare substrates; our theoretical calculations indicate that this may be caused by the formation of a larger electric dipole at the MoS 2 / Au interface leading to a modified band alignment. V surf decreased as the thickness of the flakes increased until reaching the bulk value at a thickness of ∼20 nm (∼30 layers) on the bare and ∼80 nm (∼120 layers) on the Au-coated substrates, respectively. This thickness dependence of V surf was attributed to electrostatic screening in the MoS 2 layers. Thus, a difference in the thickness at which the bulk V surf appeared suggests that the underlying substrate has an effect on the electric-field screening length of the MoS 2 flakes. This work provides important insights to help understand and control the electrical properties of metal/MoS 2 contacts.

Novel field effect transistors with suspended graphene gates are demonstrated. By incorporating mechanical motion of the gate electrode, it is possible to improve the switching characteristics compared to a static gate, as shown by a combination of experimental measurements and numerical simulations. The mechanical motion of the graphene gate is confirmed by using atomic force microscopy to directly measure the electrostatic deflection. The device geometry investigated here can also provide a sensitive measurement technique for detecting high-frequency motion of suspended membranes as required, e.g., for mass sensing.

We report the use of a fluoropolymer resist for the damage-free e-beam lithographic patterning of organic semiconductors. The same material is also shown to be suitable as an orthogonal electron beam resist for the patterning of top-contact electrodes on organic thin films. We demonstrate this by characterizing pentacene field effect transistors with feature sizes as small as 100 nm and compare the performance of bottom-and topcontacted devices.

Accurate and precise determination of mechanical properties of nanoscale materials is mandatory since device performances of nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) are closely related to the flexural properties of the materials. In this study, the intrinsic mechanical properties of highly stressed silicon nitride (SiN) beams of varying lengths are investigated using two different techniques: Dynamic flexural measurement using optical interferometry and quasi-static flexural measurement using atomic force microscopy. The resonance frequencies of the doubly clamped, highly stressed beams are found to be inversely proportional to their length, which is not usually observed from a beam but is expected from a string-like structure. The mass density of the SiN beams can be precisely determined from the dynamic flexural measurements by using the values for internal stress and Young's modulus determined from the quasi-static measurements. As a result, the mass resolution of the SiN beam resonators was predicted to be a few attograms, which was found to be in excellent agreement with the experimental results. This work suggests that accurate and precise determination of mechanical properties can be achieved through combined flexural measurement techniques, which is a crucial key for designing practical NEMS applications such as biomolecular sensors and gas detectors.

No abstract