Large temperature coefficient of resistance in atomically thin two-dimensional semiconductors

The temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of thin metal lines is often used for applications in thermometry, bolometers, or thermal accelerometers. However, metal TCR is much degraded in nanometer-thin films due to strong surface scattering, preventing their use as fast thermal sensors, which simultaneously require low thermal mass and large TCR. In contrast, here we show that the TCR of doped two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors is large (∼0.3% K−1 at 300 K in MoS2 and MoTe2) even at sub-nanometer thickness. This is larger than that of any metals with thicknesses up to ∼35 nm and larger than that of ∼95 nm thick Cu lines (0.25% K−1) at 300 K. At 100 K, the TCR of these 2D materials is doubled, ∼0.6% K−1. Comparison with detailed 2D transport models suggests that the TCR could be further enhanced (up to 0.45% K−1 at 300 K and ∼2.5% K−1 at 100 K) by reducing the density of Coulomb impurities and scattering centers. Such high TCR in atomically thin 2D semiconductors could lead to the design of fast thermal sensors.