Field-effect transistors made of individual colloidal PbS nanosheets

Abstract

Two-dimensional materials are considered for future quantum devices and are usually produced by extensive methods like molecular beam epitaxy. We report on the fabrication of field-effect transistors using individual ultra-thin lead sulfide nanostructures with lateral dimensions in the micrometer range and a height of a few nanometers as conductive channel produced by a comparatively fast, inexpensive, and scalable colloidal chemistry approach. Contacted with gold electrodes, such devices exhibit p-type behavior and temperature-dependent photoconductivity. Trap states play a crucial role in the conduction mechanism. The performance of the transistors is among the ones of the best devices based on colloidal nanostructures.