On May 12, 2025, Professor Ye Zhou's team was invited to publish an article in Nature Electronics titled "Scaling the contacted poly pitch of 2D transistors". This paper focuses on the latest advancements in two-dimensional transistors and comments on the research article " Channel and contact length scaling of two-dimensional transistors using composite metal electrodes", which was published concurrently in Nature Electronics. Dr. Chen Xue is the first author, and Prof. Ye Zhou is the corresponding author, with Shenzhen University listed as the primary institution.
The further miniaturization of traditional silicon-based field-effect transistors is hindered by short-channel effects. Research indicates that two-dimensional semiconductors can alleviate these issues. A research team from Fudan University and Shaoxin Laboratory demonstrated two-dimensional transistors with a contact pitch of approximately 60 nanometers using composite metal electrodes. This study emphasizes the importance of contact pitch in integration density, a metric that is often overlooked but plays a critical role in optimizing device performance. The research utilized gold/titanium/nickel (Au/Ti/Ni) composite metal contacts, where the shape-preserving effect of nickel helps reduce contact length, while the composite maintains a low resistance, approximately one order of magnitude lower than nickel/gold contacts. This approach allows both channel and contact lengths to be scaled down to 30 nanometers, achieving a contacted poly pitch of 60 nanometers.
Although the findings provide an effective strategy for creating scaled two-dimensional transistors through composite metal contacts, further investigation into the quality of contact electrodes and the thickness of the composite metal contacts is needed to improve device performance and yield. Additionally, the large-scale synthesis and transfer of MoS₂, the impact of crystal quality, and the realization of p-type MoS₂are critical challenges for future research.
Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41928-025-01383-
