Spotting 2-D Atomic Layers on Aluminum Nitride Thin Films

TL;DR

This paper investigates the optical contrast of 2D materials like MoS2 and graphene on aluminum nitride films, showing enhanced contrast compared to traditional substrates, which is promising for device fabrication.

Contribution

It demonstrates the potential of aluminum nitride films as large-area substrates for 2D material-based devices, with experimental and theoretical contrast analysis.

Findings

Significant contrast enhancement on AlN films compared to SiO2.

Good agreement between experimental and predicted contrast values.

Potential for large-area 2D material device integration.

Abstract

The availability of large-area substrates imposes an important constraint on the technological and commercial realization of devices made of layered materials. Aluminum nitride films on silicon are shown to be promising candidate materials as large-area substrates for such devices. Herein, the optical contrast of exemplar 2D layers - MoS2and graphene - on AlN films has been investigated as a necessary first step to realize devices on these substrates. Significant contrast enhancements are predicted and observed on AlN films compared to conventional SiO2films. Quantitative estimates of experimental contrast using reflectance spectroscopy show very good agreement with predicted values.