Wafer-scale growth of 2D materials paves way for industrial integration

A breakthrough at MIT may prove a key step for the introduction of 2D materials in commercial chip manufacturing. Engineers at the Boston, Massachusetts institute demonstrated wafer-scale growth of defect-free 2D materials on silicon substrates. Field-effect transistors (FETs) fabricated using this monolayer as a channel material perform comparably to the best samples of its lab-made equivalents.

As soon as the first 2D material, graphene, was discovered, researchers theorized it might replace silicon channels in transistors on the basis that electrons zip through it at lightning speeds. However, due to the absence of a bandgap, which is needed to switch conductivity on and off, research has moved on to transition-metal dichalcogenides. In these TMDs, a layer of metal atoms (such as molybdenum or tungsten) is sandwiched between layers of chalcogens (such as sulfur or selenium). These 2D materials naturally feature very high charge carrier mobility, along with a bandgap.