Identification and Structural Characterization of Twisted Atomically Thin Bilayer Materials by Deep Learning

TL;DR

This paper presents a deep learning-based method for rapid, automated identification of thickness and twist angles in CVD-grown bilayer 2D materials using optical microscopy images.

Contribution

It introduces a scalable CNN-based approach for accurately predicting thickness and twist angles in bilayer 2D materials, validated by spectroscopy techniques.

Findings

CNN models achieve high accuracy in identifying MoS2 thickness.

Deep learning accurately predicts twist angles in bilayer flakes.

Method enables automated, scalable inspection of 2D materials.

Abstract

Two-dimensional materials are expected to play an important role in next-generation electronics and optoelectronic devices. Recently, twisted bilayer graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides have attracted significant attention due to their unique physical properties and potential applications. In this study we describe the use of optical microscopy to collect the color space of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) molybdenum disulfide ($\mbox{MoS}_2$), and the application of a semantic segmentation convolutional neural network (CNN) to accurately and rapidly identify thicknesses of $\mbox{MoS}_2$ flakes. A second CNN model is trained to provide precise predictions on the twist angle of CVD-grown bilayer flakes. This model harnessed a dataset comprising over 10,000 synthetic images, encompassing geometries spanning from hexagonal to triangular shapes. Subsequent validation of the deep learning predictions on twist angles was executed through the second harmonic generation and Raman spectroscopy. Our results introduce a scalable methodology for automated inspection of twisted atomically thin CVD-grown bilayer.