NaCl-assisted CVD growth of wafer scale high quality trilayer MoS$_2$ and the role of concentration boundary layer

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel NaCl-assisted CVD method controlling reactant boundary layers to grow wafer-scale high-quality trilayer MoS₂, enabling precise thickness control and large-area synthesis for nano- and optoelectronic applications.

Contribution

It introduces the role of reactant concentration boundary layer in CVD growth and achieves wafer-scale high-quality trilayer MoS₂ with controlled thickness at low temperature.

Findings

Successful synthesis of 7 x 2.5 cm² trilayer MoS₂ film

Control of boundary layer thickness enables thickness tuning

High repeatability and quality of the grown films

Abstract

Direct growth of wafer scale high quality 2D layered materials (2DLMs) on SiO$_2$/Si substrate is still a challenge. The chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique has played a significant role in achieving a large area continuous film of 2DLMs. CVD growth requires the optimization of many growth parameters such as temperature, amount of precursors, pressure, carrier gas flow and distance between the reactants. However, the role of boundary layer of reactants concentration has not been explored yet. The amount of precursors which leads to the formation of reactants concentration boundary layer has a significant role in controlling the thickness of growing material. Here, we report the role of concentration boundary layer to achieve wafer-scale MoS$_2$ in NaCl-assisted CVD growth at low temperature. Control of boundary layer thickness has led to the synthesis monolayer, bilayer, trilayer, and bulk MoS$_2$ film and flakes in our single-zone CVD at atmospheric pressure. Most importantly, we have synthesized 7 $\times$ 2.5 cm$^2$ area continuous, high quality trilayer MoS$_2$ film with good repeatability. We believe that our approach may lead to synthesize other wafer-scale 2DLMs that will pave the way for nano- and optoelectronics.