Ferroelectric transistors based on shear-transformation-mediated rhombohedral-stacked molybdenum disulfide

To develop low-power, non-volatile computing-in-memory device using ferroelectric transistor technologies, ferroelectric channel materials with scaled thicknesses are required. Two-dimensional semiconductors, such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), equipped with sliding ferroelectricity could provide an answer. However, achieving switchable electric polarization in epitaxial MoS2 remains challenging due to the absence of mobile domain boundaries. Here we show that polarity-switchable epitaxial rhombohedral-stacked (3R) MoS2 can be used as a ferroelectric channel in ferroelectric memory transistors. We show that a shear transformation can spontaneously occur in 3R MoS2 epilayers, producing heterostructures with stable ferroelectric domains embedded in a highly dislocated and unstable non-ferroelectric matrix. This diffusionless phase transformation process produces mobile screw dislocations that enable collective polarity control of 3R MoS2 via an electric field. Polarization-electric-field measurements reveal a switching field of 0.036 V nm-1 for shear-transformed 3R MoS2. Our sliding ferroelectric transistors are non-volatile memory units with thicknesses of only two atomic layers and exhibit an average memory window of 7 V with an applied voltage of 10 V, retention times greater than 104 seconds and endurance greater than 104 cycles. Rhombohedral-stacked molybdenum disulfide with sliding ferroelectric behaviour can be used to create atomically thin ferroelectric transistors for computing-in-memory device applications.