  We study the effect of local strain in the electronic transport properties of
vertical metal-atomically thin MoS2-metal structures. We use a conductive
atomic force microscope tip to apply different load forces to monolayer and
few-layer MoS2 crystals deposited onto a conductive indium tin oxide (ITO)
substrate while measuring simultaneously the I-V characteristics of the
vertical tip/MoS2/ITO structures. The structures show rectifying I-V
characteristics, with rectification ratios strongly dependent on the applied
load. To understand these results, we compare the experimental I-Vs with a
double Schottky barrier model, which is in good agreement with our experimental
results and allows us to extract quantitative information about the electronic
properties of the tip/MoS2/ITO structures and their dependence on the applied
load. Finally, we test the stability of the studied structures using them as
mechanically tunable current rectifiers.
