Charge-transfer contacts for the measurement of correlated states in high-mobility WSe₂

Two-dimensional semiconductors, such as transition metal dichalcogenides, have demonstrated tremendous promise for the development of highly tunable quantum devices. Realizing this potential requires low-resistance electrical contacts that perform well at low temperatures and low densities where quantum properties are relevant. Here we present a new device architecture for two-dimensional semiconductors that utilizes a charge-transfer layer to achieve large hole doping in the contact region, and implement this technique to measure the magnetotransport properties of high-purity monolayer WSe₂. We measure a record-high hole mobility of 80,000 cm² V^–1 s^–1 and access channel carrier densities as low as 1.6 × 10¹¹ cm⁻², an order of magnitude lower than previously achievable. Our ability to realize transparent contact to high-mobility devices at low density enables transport measurements of correlation-driven quantum phases including the observation of a low-temperature metal–insulator transition in a density and temperature regime where Wigner crystal formation is expected and the observation of the fractional quantum Hall effect under large magnetic fields. The charge-transfer contact scheme enables the discovery and manipulation of new quantum phenomena in two-dimensional semiconductors and their heterostructures.