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Two-dimensional materials

Hybrid dielectrics for two-dimensional electronics

Nature Materials volume 22, pages 1059–1060 (2023)Cite this article

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Using the van der Waals crystal Sb2O3 as a buffer layer enables the growth of high-κ dielectrics on two-dimensional materials via atomic layer deposition.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted worldwide attention for fundamental studies and applications due to their unique properties1. The lack of dangling bonds at their surface allows the combination of different 2D materials into van der Waals heterostructures to artificially tailor properties by design, including the many possibilities that have emerged through twist-angle control2. It also allows 2D semiconductors to achieve high electronic mobility in the atomically thin limit, making them ideal candidates for next-generation, ultrathin-body electronics3. However, the lack of surface bonds makes it challenging to combine 2D materials with 3D materials. In particular, it has proven difficult to grow 3D high-κ (dielectric constant) dielectrics — a must in silicon-based modern integrated circuit technology — on 2D materials4. Now, writing in Nature Materials, Yongshan Xu and colleagues report the growth of high-κ dielectrics on 2D materials by using the inorganic molecular crystal Sb2O3 as a van der Waals seeding layer, achieving field-effect transistors with sub-1-nm equivalent oxide thickness and high gating efficiency5.

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Fig. 1: Schematic illustration of the hybrid HfO2/Sb2O3 dielectric growth on MoS2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices, School of Electronics, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Yang Liu

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    James C. Hone

Authors
  1. Yang Liu
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  2. James C. Hone
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Correspondence to Yang Liu or James C. Hone.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Liu, Y., Hone, J.C. Hybrid dielectrics for two-dimensional electronics. Nat. Mater. 22, 1059–1060 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-023-01642-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-023-01642-w

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