High Current Density and Low Thermal Conductivity of Atomically Thin   Semimetallic WTe2
  Two-dimensional (2D) semimetals beyond graphene have been relatively unexplored in the atomically-thin limit. Here we introduce a facile growth mechanism for semimetallic WTe2 crystals, then fabricate few-layer test structures while carefully avoiding degradation from exposure to air. Low-field electrical measurements of 80 nm to 2 um long devices allow us to separate intrinsic and contact resistance, revealing metallic response in the thinnest encapsulated and stable WTe2 devices studied to date (3 to 20 layers thick). High-field electrical measurements and electro-thermal modeling demonstrate that ultra-thin WTe2 can carry remarkably high current density (approaching 50 MA/cm2, higher than most common interconnect metals) despite a very low thermal conductivity (of the order ~3 W/m/K). These results suggest several pathways for air-stable technological viability of this layered semimetal. 
Michal J. Mleczko, Runjie (Lily) Xu, Kye Okabe, Hsueh-Hui Kuo, Ian R.   Fisher, H.-S. Philip Wong, Yoshio Nishi, Eric Pop
cond-mat.mtrl-sci cond-mat.mes-hall