Back to Search
Start Over
Oriented lateral growth of two-dimensional materials on c-plane sapphire.
- Source :
-
Nature nanotechnology [Nat Nanotechnol] 2023 Nov; Vol. 18 (11), pp. 1289-1294. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jul 20. - Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- Two-dimensional (2D) semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) represent the ultimate thickness for scaling down channel materials. They provide a tantalizing solution to push the limit of semiconductor technology nodes in the sub-1 nm range. One key challenge with 2D semiconducting TMD channel materials is to achieve large-scale batch growth on insulating substrates of single crystals with spatial homogeneity and compelling electrical properties. Recent studies have claimed the epitaxy growth of wafer-scale, single-crystal 2D TMDs on a c-plane sapphire substrate with deliberately engineered off-cut angles. It has been postulated that exposed step edges break the energy degeneracy of nucleation and thus drive the seamless stitching of mono-oriented flakes. Here we show that a more dominant factor should be considered: in particular, the interaction of 2D TMD grains with the exposed oxygen-aluminium atomic plane establishes an energy-minimized 2D TMD-sapphire configuration. Reconstructing the surfaces of c-plane sapphire substrates to only a single type of atomic plane (plane symmetry) already guarantees the single-crystal epitaxy of monolayer TMDs without the aid of step edges. Electrical results evidence the structural uniformity of the monolayers. Our findings elucidate a long-standing question that curbs the wafer-scale batch epitaxy of 2D TMD single crystals-an important step towards using 2D materials for future electronics. Experiments extended to perovskite materials also support the argument that the interaction with sapphire atomic surfaces is more dominant than step-edge docking.<br /> (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1748-3395
- Volume :
- 18
- Issue :
- 11
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Nature nanotechnology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 37474684
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-023-01445-9