Versatile polymer method to dry-flip two-dimensional moir\'e hetero structures for nanoscale surface characterization

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple polymer-based dry flip method using PVC for preparing high-quality twisted bilayer graphene devices, enabling better surface characterization and extending to other air-sensitive 2D materials.

Contribution

A novel solvent-free polymer method for flipping twisted bilayer graphene, improving sample quality and compatibility with surface characterization techniques.

Findings

Successful fabrication of flipped twisted bilayer graphene without solvents

High-quality samples confirmed by Piezoresponse Force Microscopy

Method applicable to other air-sensitive 2D materials

Abstract

The recent discovery of magic angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG), in which two sheets of monolayer graphene are precisely stacked to a specific angle, has opened up a plethora of new opportunities in the field of topology, superconductivity, and other strongly correlated effects. Most conventional ways of preparing twisted bilayer devices require the use of high process temperatures and solvents and are not well-suited for preparing samples which need to be flipped to be compatible with characterization techniques like STM, ARPES, PFM, SThM etc. Here, we demonstrate a very simple polymer-based method using Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), which can be used for making flipped twisted bilayer graphene devices. This allowed us to produce flipped twisted samples without the need of any solvents and with high quality as confirmed by Piezoresponse Force Microscopy. We believe that this dry flip technique can be readily extended to twist 2D materials beyond graphene, especially air-sensitive materials which require operation under inert atmosphere, where often solvents cannot be used.