Molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2) is one of the most important two-dimensional materials after graphene. Monolayer MoS 2 has a direct bandgap (1.9 eV) and is potentially suitable for post-silicon electronics. Among all atomically thin semiconductors, MoS 2 's synthesis techniques are more developed. Here, we review the recent developments in the synthesis of hexagonal MoS 2 , where they are categorized into top-down and bottom-up approaches. Micromechanical exfoliation is convenient for beginners and basic research. Liquid phase exfoliation and solutions for chemical processes are cheap and suitable for large-scale production; yielding materials mostly in powders with different shapes, sizes and layer numbers. MoS 2 films on a substrate targeting high-end nanoelectronic applications can be produced by chemical vapor deposition, compatible with the semiconductor industry. Usually, metal catalysts are unnecessary. Unlike graphene, the transfer of atomic layers is omitted. We especially emphasize the recent advances in metalorganic chemical vapor deposition and atomic layer deposition, where gaseous precursors are used. These processes grow MoS 2 with the smallest building-blocks, naturally promising higher quality and controllability. Most likely, this will be an important direction in the field. Nevertheless, today none of those methods reproducibly produces MoS 2 with competitive quality. There is a long way to go for MoS 2 in real-life electronic device applications.
By virtue of the small active volume around Cu catalyst, graphene is synthesized by fast chemical vapor deposition (CVD) in a cold wall vertical system. Despite being highly polycrystalline, it is as conductive and transparent as standard graphene and can be used in light emitting diodes as transparent electrodes. 7-10 nm indium tin oxide (ITO) contact layer is inserted between the graphene and p-GaN to enhance hole injection. Devices with forward voltage and transparency comparable to those using traditional 240 nm ITO are achieved with better ultraviolet performances, hinting the promising future for application-oriented graphene by rapid CVD. V
In most cases, transfer of chemical‐vapor‐deposited 2D materials from metallic foil catalysts onto a target substrate is the most necessary step for their promising fundamental studies and applications. Recently, a highly efficient and nondestructive electrochemical delamination method has been proposed as an alternative to the conventional etching transfer method, which alleviates the problem of cost and environment pollution because it eliminates the need to etch away the metals. Here, the mechanism of the electrochemical bubbling delamination process is elucidated by studying the effect of the various electrolytes on the delamination rate. A capacitor‐based circuit model is proposed and confirmed by the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results. A factor of 27 decrease in the time required for complete graphene delamination from the platinum cathodes is found when increasing the NaOH ratio in the electrolyte solution. The opposite trend is observed for delamination at the anode. The surface screening effect induced by nonreactive ions in the vicinity of the electrodes plays a key role in the delamination efficiency. The analysis is generic and can be used as a guideline to describe and design the electrochemical delamination of other 2D materials from their metal catalysts as well.
Graphene GaN-based Schottky ultraviolet detectors are fabricated. The monolayer graphene is grown by chemical vapor deposition. The graphene is much more transparent than metals, as confirmed by the fact that our devices retain their high responsivity up to 360-nm wavelength (corresponding to the band edge absorption of GaN). Importantly, by virtue of the tunable work function of graphene, the graphene GaN Schottky barrier height can be greatly enlarged. The built-in field is enhanced, and the detector performance is improved. The current ratio with and without luminescence is up to 1.6 × 10 4 . The characteristic time constants of the devices are in the order of a few milliseconds. The device open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current are also increased. At last, special type Schottky devices consisting of GaN nanorods or surface-etched GaN are prepared for complementary study. It is found although the dry etching induced surface defects lead to an increase in the dark current, and these carrier traps also greatly contribute to the photoconductivity under luminescence, resulting in extraordinarily large responsivity (up to 360 A/W at −6 V).
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