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Layer-by-layer epitaxy growth of thickness-controllable two-dimensional tungsten disulfide

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Abstract

Bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) balance the high mobility of single layers with the high state density of multilayers and therefore have promising application prospects in high-performance electronics. However, the layer-controlled growth of 2D materials is still confronted with challenges such as poor repeatability between different labs and a limited understanding of the growth mechanism at the atomic scale. Herein, we report a new carbon-assisted chemical vapor deposition process that can realize the growth of WS2 sheets with high yield, precise thickness controllability, and repeatability. We show that carbon can act as a reducing agent and catalyst that preferentially reacts with the WO3 precursor to form intermediate WO3−x products with low-valence state W. The resulting oxycarbide gas has a low surface adsorption energy when deposited on the surface of as-grown WS2, which provides nucleation sites for the subsequent layer of WS2 growth and leads to the vertical growth of WS2 sheets. The growth mechanism is thoroughly investigated. Electrical transport measurements show that the produced bilayer WS2 possesses a high carrier mobility (up to 58 cm2·V−1·s−1) and small subthreshold swing (estimated to be 148 mV/decade), which are among the best reported results for TMDs produced using CVD.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Key R&D Program of China (Grant Nos. 2022YFA1402501, 2022YFA-1204300), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52372146, 62375081, U22A20138, 51972105, 52221001 62090035), Key Program of Science and Technology Department of Hunan Province (Grant Nos. 2019XK2001 2020XK2001), Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan Province (Grant No. 2021RC3061), and Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (Grant No. 2021JJ20016), Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (Grant No. 20JCYBJC00390), and Open Project Program of Key Laboratory of Nanodevices and Applications, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. 22ZS01).

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Author notes

  1. Liang J Y, Zou Z X, and Liang J W have the same contribution to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Micro-Nano Physics and Technology of Hunan Province, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan Institute of Optoelectronic Integration, College of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China

    Jieyuan Liang, Biao Wang, Anshi Chu, Jiali Yi, Cheng Zhang, Lizhen Fang, Tian Zhang, Huawei Liu, Xiaoli Zhu, Dong Li & Anlian Pan

  2. School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China

    Anlian Pan

  3. School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Changsha University, Changsha, 410022, China

    Zixing Zou

  4. School of Physics and Telecommunication Engineering, Yulin Normal University, Yulin, 537000, China

    Junwu Liang

  5. Units Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd., Nanjing, 210000, China

    Di Wang

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  1. Jieyuan Liang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xiaoli Zhu, Dong Li or Anlian Pan.

Additional information

Supporting information Appendix A. The supporting information is available online at info.scichina.com and link.springer.com. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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Liang, J., Zou, Z., Liang, J. et al. Layer-by-layer epitaxy growth of thickness-controllable two-dimensional tungsten disulfide. Sci. China Inf. Sci. 67, 152404 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-023-3941-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-023-3941-4

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