Thermal limitations of two-dimensional semi-metallic WTe 2 devices

Layered semi-metallic materials other than graphene have not received much attention. Here, we examine electrical and thermal transport in WTe 2 devices by experiments, analytical and finite element simulations. We uncover that few-layer WTe 2 has remarkably high current density but ultra-low thermal conductivity, suggesting potential use as phase-change memory electrodes.