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Simultaneous synthesis and integration of two-dimensional electronic components

Nature Electronics volume 2, pages 164–170 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) materials such as transition metal chalcogenides can be used to create different components of electronic devices, including semiconducting channels and metallic electrodes and interconnects. However, devices are typically fabricated using a step-by-step process that can introduce defects and impurities, leading to a reduction in device performance. Here we show that 2D electronic components can be chemically synthesized and integrated simultaneously in a single step, creating 2D devices in which each component in the active layer is connected via covalent bonds instead of physical interfaces. The approach involves the phase-patterned growth of atomic layers, and, using 2D molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2) as the active material, we show that it can be used to construct high-performance field-effect transistors (FETs) and arrays of logic devices. We also use the technique to construct FETs with ultrashort gate lengths, bilayered FETs with vertical interconnections and flexible devices.

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Fig. 1: Comparison of our proposed circuit construction approach with a traditional approach.
Fig. 2: Characterizations of 2H/1T′ MoTe2 heterophase junctions.
Fig. 3: Comparisons of the electrical performances of chemically synthesized FETs and traditional fabricated FETs.
Fig. 4: Chemically synthesized device array.
Fig. 5: Potential applications.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (grants nos. 21875127, 21573125, 51522212, 51421002, 51672307, 61574083 and 61434001), the Research Fund from Beijing Innovation Center for Future Chip, Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission (no. Z161100002116030), Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program, National Key R&D Program (grant no. 2016YFA0200400), the National Basic Research Program (grants nos. 2014CB921002 and 2015CB352101), the Independent Research Program of Tsinghua University (grant no. 2014Z01006), Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (grant no. JCYJ20150831192224146) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Science (grant no. XDB 07030200). The authors thank J. Zhang and S. Zhang for providing carbon nanotube array samples. The authors thank C. Li and H. Chen for performing tensile tests. The authors thank L. Zhou for the discussion on the growth of MoTe2.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Qi Zhang, Xue-Feng Wang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Qi Zhang, Haoyi Li, Jingying Zheng & Liying Jiao

  2. Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Xue-Feng Wang, Shu-Hong Shen, Qi Lu & Tian-Ling Ren

  3. Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology (TNList), Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Xue-Feng Wang, Shu-Hong Shen, Qi Lu & Tian-Ling Ren

  4. Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Xiaozhi Liu & Lin Gu

  5. National Center for Electron Microscopy in Beijing, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials (MOE), The State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Chu-Ping Yu & Xiaoyan Zhong

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  1. Qi Zhang
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Contributions

L.Y.J. and T.-L.R. co-supervised the study. L.Y.J. and Q.Z. conceived the ideas. Q.Z., X.-F.W., S.-H.S. and Q.L. performed the experiments. L.G., X.Y.Z., C.-P.Y. and X.Z.L. performed STEM measurements and analysis. H.Y.L. performed SEM and GIXRD measurements and analysis. J.Y.Z. performed EBL fabrications. L.Y.J., Q.Z., T.-L.R. and X.-F.W. co-wrote the manuscript. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Tian-Ling Ren or Liying Jiao.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary Methods 1–5, Supplementary Notes 1–4, Supplementary Tables 1–2 and Supplementary Figs. 1–20.

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Cite this article

Zhang, Q., Wang, XF., Shen, SH. et al. Simultaneous synthesis and integration of two-dimensional electronic components. Nat Electron 2, 164–170 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-019-0233-2

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