Breakthrough in 2D Semiconductor Technology: Ultra-Small Transistors Grown with Antimony Contacts
A new strategy for growing ultra-short, low-resistance contacts directly onto 2D semiconductors has yielded what researchers believe too be the smallest high-performance transistor of its kind, potentially paving the way for a new era of miniaturized electronics.
The relentless pursuit of smaller, faster, and more efficient electronic devices has long been a driving force in materials science. In recent years, engineers have increasingly turned to two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors – materials like molybdenum disulfide (MoS) – as potential replacements for silicon. However, a significant hurdle has been the difficulty in creating effective electrical contacts at the nanoscale.
Now, a team of researchers has announced a promising solution. Their approach, detailed in a paper published in Nature Electronics, involves directly growing crystalline semimetallic antimony contacts onto a monolayer of mos using a technique called molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). This method allows for precise, atom-by-atom control over the growth process, resulting in remarkably small and high-performing transistors.
“Scaling 2D semiconductor transistors to and beyond a 1-nanometer node has remained elusive,despite a lot of work and wide anticipation from academia and industry,” explained a senior author of the study. “Previous efforts largely focused on scaling the channel itself, but the contact is truly the limiting factor.A key challenge is the large contact resistance at extremely small contact lengths.”
The team’s innovation lies in the use of MBE to deposit crystalline antimony, creating an intimate contact interface with the MoS. “We used MBE in ultra-high vacuum to deposit crystalline antimony ohmic contacts,” explained a co-first author of the paper. “By heating the substrate and carefully controlling the deposition rate, antimony atoms spontaneously arrange into a specific crystal orientation, forming a robust connection.”
This MBE-based strategy offers significant advantages over traditional thin-film deposition techniques. The resulting antimony crystals are of exceptionally high quality, with grain sizes two orders of magnitude larger than those produced by evaporation methods. This translates to considerably reduced contact resistance, which remains stable even as the contacts are scaled down to just 18 nanometers – a critical threshold for next-generation devices. “The extracted transfer length is approximately 13 nm,which,to our knowledge,is the only 2D semiconductor contact technology that meets the 1nm node target,” stated a researcher involved in the project.
the implications of this breakthrough extend beyond simply shrinking transistor size. According to the research team, their work addresses a critical bottleneck in the advancement of 2D material-based electronics. “Previously, people believed that 2D transistors could be useful, but there was no experimental presentation of their performance at such scaled device lengths,” said a lead researcher. “We believe this work will accelerate the transition of 2D semiconductors from the lab to actual manufacturing.”
Industry roadmaps,such as the one released by IMEC in 2025,already identify 2D semiconductors as potential end-of-map options for continued transistor scaling. This new research brings that vision closer to reality, potentially enabling further miniaturization and performance gains in electronic devices.
Though, challenges remain. The researchers acknowledge the need to optimize the reliability and manufacturability of the antimony contact technology for mass production. Further work is also needed to develop effective contacts for p-type semiconductors, such as tungsten diselenide (WSe), which currently lag behind their n-type counterparts. Improvements in doping strategies and gate stack engineering, with a focus on reducing interface trap density, are also crucial. “Design-Technology Co-Optimization will be very crucial moving forward,” a researcher noted.
This research represents a significant step forward in the quest to overcome the limitations of silicon-based electronics and unlock the full potential of 2D materials.The development of ultra-small, high-performance transistors based on MoS and antimony contacts could usher in a new era of innovation in computing, communications, and beyond.
More information: Mingyi du et al, Scaled crystalline antimony ohmic contacts for two-dimensional transistors, Nature Electronics (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41928-025-01500-4
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