Twisted bilayer graphene provides a new two-dimensional platform for studying electron interaction phenomena and flat band properties such as correlated insulator transition, superconductivity and ferromagnetism at certain magic angles. Here,...

Moiré superlattices in van der Waals heterostructures provide a tunable platform to study emergent properties that are absent in the natural crystal form. Twisted bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TB-TMDs) can host moiré flat bands over a wide range of twist angles. For twist angle close to 60°, it was predicted that TB-TMDs undergo a lattice reconstruction which causes the formation of ultra-flat bands. Here, by using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, we show the emergence of multiple ultra-flat bands in twisted bilayer WSe2 when the twist angle is within 3° of 60°. The ultra-flat bands are manifested as narrow tunneling conductance peaks with estimated bandwidth less than 10 meV, which is only a fraction of the estimated on-site Coulomb repulsion energy. The number of these ultra-flat bands and spatial distribution of the wavefunctions match well with the theoretical predictions, strongly evidencing that the observed ultra-flat bands are induced by lattice reconstruction. Our work provides a foundation for further study of the exotic correlated phases in TB-TMDs.

Though chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods have been widely used in the growth of two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides (2D TMDCs), the controllable fabrication of 2D TMDCs is yet hard to achieve because of the great challenge of concisely controlling the release of precursors vapor, one of the most critical growth kinetic factors. To solve this important issue, here we report the utilization of oxide inhibitors covering Mo source during CVD reactions to manipulate the release of Mo vapor. In contrast to the lack of capability of conventional CVD methods, 2D molybdenum dichalcogenide (MoX2, X = S, Se, Te) monolayers were successfully fabricated through the proposed CVD protocol with the oxide-inhibitor-assisted growth (OIAG) strategy. In this way, despite the fact that only separated MoTe2 flakes were prepared, both MoS2 (continuous and clean) and MoSe2 (continuous but dotted) monolayer films at the scale of centimeter were obtained. The presented OIAG method enables a comprehensive understanding and precise control of the reaction kinetics for improved growth of 2D MoX2.

Electrically interfacing atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenide semiconductors (TMDSCs) with metal leads is challenging because of undesired interface barriers, which have drastically constrained the electrical performance of TMDSC devices for exploring their unconventional physical properties and realizing potential electronic applications. Here we demonstrate a strategy to achieve nearly barrier-free electrical contacts with few-layer TMDSCs by engineering interfacial bonding distortion. The carrier-injection efficiency of such electrical junction is substantially increased with robust ohmic behaviors from room to cryogenic temperatures. The performance enhancements of TMDSC field-effect transistors are well reflected by the low contact resistance (down to 90 Ωµm in MoS2, towards the quantum limit), the high field-effect mobility (up to 358,000 cm2V−1s−1 in WSe2), and the prominent transport characteristics at cryogenic temperatures. This method also offers possibilities of the local manipulation of atomic structures and electronic properties for TMDSC device design.

The recently discovered nonlinear Hall effect (NHE) in a few non-interacting systems provides a novel mechanism for generating second harmonic electrical Hall signals under time-reversal-symmetric conditions. Here, we introduce a new approach to engineering NHE by using twisted moiré structures. We found that the twisted WSe2 bilayer exhibited a NHE when the Fermi level was tuned to the moiré flat bands. When the first moiré band was half-filled, the nonlinear Hall signal exhibited a sharp peak with a generation efficiency that was at least two orders of magnitude greater than those obtained in previous experiments. We discuss the possible origins of the diverging generation efficiency in twisted WSe2 based on resistivity measurements, such as moiré interface induced correlation effects and mass-diverging type continuous Mott transition. This study demonstrates not only how interaction effects can combine with Berry curvature dipoles to produce novel quantum phenomena, but also the potential of NHE measurements as a new tool for studying quantum criticality.

Ambipolar field-effect transistor (FET) devices based on two-dimensional (2D) materials have been attracted much attention due to potential applications in integrated circuits, flexible electronics and optical sensors. However, it is difficult to tune Fermi level between conduction and valence bands using a traditional SiO2 as dielectric layer. Here, we employed the lithium-ion conductive glass ceramic (LICGC) as the back-gate electrode in a monolayer WS2 FET. The effective accumulation and dissipation of Li+ ions in the interface induce a wide tune of Fermi level in the conducting channel by electron and hole doping, which show an ambipolar transport characteristics with threshold voltages at 0.9 V and −1.3 V, respectively. Our results provide an opportunity for fabricating ultra-thin ambipolar FET based on 2D materials.

Twistronics has emerged as one of the most attractive playgrounds for manipulating the interfacial structures and electronic properties of two-dimensional materials. However, the layer-dependent lattice reconstruction and resulted strain distribution...

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