An automated system for strain engineering and straintronics of 2D materials

TL;DR

This paper introduces an automated three-point bending system for studying strain engineering and straintronics in 2D materials, enabling reproducible measurements and automation of strain effects on electronic and optical properties.

Contribution

The work presents a novel automated bending apparatus for 2D materials, facilitating reproducible strain measurements and straintronic device investigations with ease of implementation.

Findings

Reproducible strain-tuned spectra for MoS2 using the new system

Automated measurement of piezoresistive effects in MoS2 devices

Strain effects on photoresponse demonstrated in 2D material devices

Abstract

This work presents an automated three-point bending apparatus that can be used to study strain engineering and straintronics in two-dimensional materials. We benchmark the system by reporting reproducible strain tuned micro-reflectance, Raman, and photoluminescence spectra for monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). These results are in good agreement with reported literature using conventional bending apparatus. We further utilize the system to automate strain investigations of straintronic devices by measuring the piezoresistive effect and the strain effect on photoresponse in an MoS2 electrical device. The details of the construction of the straightforward system are given and we anticipate it can be easily implemented for study of strain engineering and straintronics in a wide variety of 2D material systems.