In-plane heterostructures of transition metal dichalcogenides
(TMDCs)
have attracted much attention for high-performance electronic and
optoelectronic devices. To date, mainly monolayer-based in-plane heterostructures
have been prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and their optical
and electrical properties have been investigated. However, the low
dielectric properties of monolayers prevent the generation of high
concentrations of thermally excited carriers from doped impurities.
To solve this issue, multilayer TMDCs are a promising component for
various electronic devices due to the availability of degenerate semiconductors.
Here, we report the fabrication and transport properties of multilayer
TMDC-based in-plane heterostructures. The multilayer in-plane heterostructures
are formed through CVD growth of multilayer MoS2 from the
edges of mechanically exfoliated multilayer flakes of WSe2 or Nb
x
Mo1–x
S2. In addition to the in-plane heterostructures,
we also confirmed the vertical growth of MoS2 on the exfoliated
flakes. For the WSe2/MoS2 sample, an abrupt
composition change is confirmed by cross-sectional high-angle annular
dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy. Electrical transport
measurements reveal that a tunneling current flows at the Nb
x
Mo1–x
S2/MoS2 in-plane heterointerface, and the band alignment
is changed from a staggered gap to a broken gap by electrostatic electron
doping of MoS2. The formation of a staggered gap band alignment
of Nb
x
Mo1–x
S2/MoS2 is also supported by first-principles
calculations.