Wafer-scale Programmed Assembly of One-atom-thick Crystals

TL;DR

This paper introduces a programmed assembly method for creating wafer-scale, atomically precise 2D crystal films like graphene and hBN, enabling customizable electronic properties and scalable fabrication.

Contribution

The study presents a novel programmed crystal assembly technique that achieves high-yield, wafer-scale, atomically precise 2D crystal films with tailored configurations.

Findings

Achieved wafer-scale assembly of pristine 2D crystal films.

Demonstrated programmable electronic properties in multilayer graphene.

Enabled single-atom precision in thickness control for tunnel devices.

Abstract

Crystalline films offer various physical properties based on the modulation of their thicknesses and atomic structures. The layer-by-layer assembly of atomically thin crystals provides powerful means to arbitrarily design films at the atomic-level, which are unattainable with existing growth technologies. However, atomically-clean assembly of the materials with high scalability and reproducibility remains challenging. We report programmed crystal assembly (PCA) of graphene and monolayer hexagonal boron nitride (ML hBN), assisted by van der Waals interactions, to form wafer-scale films of pristine interfaces with near-unity yield. The atomic configurations of the films are tailored with layer-resolved compositions and in-plane crystalline orientations. We demonstrate batch-fabricated tunnel device arrays with modulation of the resistance over orders of magnitude by thickness-control of the hBN barrier with single-atom precision, and large-scale, twisted multilayer graphene with programmable electronic band structures and crystal symmetries. Our results constitute an important development in the artificial design of large-scale films.