Dimensional reduction and ionic gating induced enhancement of superconductivity in atomically thin crystals of 2H-TaSe2

The effects of dimensional reduction and ion intercalation on superconductivity (SC) in the presence of charge density waves (CDWs) in two-dimensional crystals of 2H-TaSe2 were characterized. We prepared atomically thin crystals by mechanical exfoliation and performed electrical transport measurements on devices made by photolithography. The superconducting transition temperature (T c SC ) was found to increase monotonically as the thickness decreased, changing from 0.14 K in the bulk to higher than 1.4 K for a 3-nm-thick crystal. The temperature dependence of upper critical field was found to be anomalous. The CDW transition temperature (T c CDW ) was found to decrease, but to a less extent than T c SC , from 120 K in the bulk to around 113 K for the 3-nm-thick crystal. In addition, ion intercalation was found to increase T c SC and suppress T c CDW in an atomically thin crystal of 2H-TaSe2. The implications of these findings are discussed. We suggest that dimensional reduction and ion intercalation are potentially effective ways to engineer material properties for layered transition metal chalcogenides.