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However, the development of scaled field-effect transistors (FETs) requires industry-compatible gate dielectrics with low equivalent oxide thicknesses. Here we show that zirconium oxide (ZrO\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    )\u2014an industry-compatible high-dielectric-constant (\n                    <jats:italic>k<\/jats:italic>\n                    ) oxide\u2014can form a clean interface with two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide (MoS\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    ). Photoelectron spectroscopy analysis shows that although silicon dioxide and hafnium oxide substrates introduce the doping of MoS\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    , ZrO\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    exhibits no measurable interactions with MoS\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    . Back-gated monolayer MoS\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    FETs using ZrO\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    as a dielectric exhibit stable and positive threshold voltages of 0.36\u2009V, subthreshold swings of 75\u2009mV\u2009dec\n                    <jats:sup>\u22121<\/jats:sup>\n                    and ON currents of more than 400\u2009\u00b5A. We also use ZrO\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    dielectrics to fabricate p-type tungsten diselenide FETs with ON-state currents of more than 200\u2009\u00b5A\u2009\u00b5m\n                    <jats:sup>\u22121<\/jats:sup>\n                    . Atomic-resolution imaging of ZrO\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    deposited on top of MoS\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    reveals a defect-free interface, which leads to top-gated FETs with an equivalent oxide thickness of 0.86\u2009nm and subthreshold swing values of 80\u2009mV\u2009dec\n                    <jats:sup>\u22121<\/jats:sup>\n                    . The clean interface between ZrO\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    and monolayer MoS\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    allows the effective modulation of threshold voltage in top-gated FETs via gate metal work-function engineering.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41928-025-01468-1","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,6]],"date-time":"2025-10-06T09:04:47Z","timestamp":1759741487000},"page":"906-912","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":23,"title":["A clean van der Waals interface between the high-k dielectric zirconium oxide and two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-3376-1697","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Han","family":"Yan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9241-3512","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yan","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2005-7381","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yang","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dibya","family":"Phuyal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lixin","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hailing","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9224-3816","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yuzheng","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6935-5983","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tien-Lin","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Minhyuk","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5550-5298","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hu Young","family":"Jeong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8183-4044","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Manish","family":"Chhowalla","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"1468_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"16052","DOI":"10.1038\/natrevmats.2016.52","volume":"1","author":"M Chhowalla","year":"2016","unstructured":"Chhowalla, M., Jena, D. & Zhang, H. 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The other authors declare no competing interests.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}]}}