Transition Metal Trichalcogenides for Electronics Applications

Recently, transition metal trichalcogenides (MX₃), a class of quasi-1D van der Waals materials, have revealed remarkable properties such as high current breakdown density and exceptional electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding.^1-3 Their unique properties are attributed to their pseudo-one-dimensional electronic structure with strong in-plane anisotropy and single crystalline structure. Therefore, to effectively integrate these materials into next generation nanoelectronics, it is necessary to optimize their synthesis to produce crystals of the desired composition, size, structure, and morphology. In this work, we present studies on the optimized bottom-up synthesis and characterization of TaSe₃ nanowires, as well as its polarization-sensitive EMI shielding properties. Additionally, we utilized a top-down liquid phase exfoliation (LPE) technique to produce smaller dimension MX₃ nanowires for in-situ electron microscopy studies. Our in-situ heating experiments provide valuable insight into the structural breakdown of NbS₃ nanowires into NbS₂ nanosheets under thermal stress. Finally, we demonstrated successful alloying of transition metal trichalcogenides materials which can be implemented as a method to tune the electronic properties of these low-dimensional materials. The synthesis of three types of alloys is enhanced to produce high quality nanowires and their structures are established using single crystal x-ray diffraction.

1. Geremew, A., et al. "Current carrying capacity of quasi-1D ZrTe 3 van der Waals nanoribbons." IEEE Electron Device Letters 39.5 (2018): 735-738.
2. Stolyarov, Maxim A., et al. "Breakdown current density in h-BN-capped quasi-1D TaSe 3 metallic nanowires: prospects of interconnect applications." Nanoscale 8.34 (2016): 15774-15782.
3. Barani, Zahra, et al. "Electrically Insulating Flexible Films with Quasi‐1D van der Waals Fillers as Efficient Electromagnetic Shields in the GHz and Sub‐THz Frequency Bands." Advanced Materials 33.11 (2021): 2007286.