# Fast Growth of Centimeter-Scale Molybdenum Disulfide Single Crystal for Energy-Efficient Logic Circuits

## TL;DR

Researchers developed a fast method to grow large molybdenum disulfide crystals, which could lead to energy-efficient electronic circuits.

## Contribution

A source-confined chemical vapor deposition strategy for rapid growth of centimeter-scale MoS2 single crystals.

## Key findings

- MoS2 single-crystal films were synthesized in 10 minutes using a sandwich-structured Mo source and sodium chloride catalysis.
- High-performance MoS2 transistors with an on–off ratio of 108 and low power consumption were demonstrated.
- The method enables scalable production of TMDs for next-generation electronics applications.

## Abstract

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are promising candidates for next-generation electronics, but their future application is hindered by the inherently slow growth kinetics of conventional vapor deposition methods, particularly for the synthesis of large-area single-crystal films. Here, we demonstrate a source-confined chemical vapor deposition strategy that enables the fast synthesis of centimeter-scale MoS2 single-crystal films within just 10 min. An optimized sandwich-structured Mo source was employed to ensure a concentration-balanced metal supply under sodium chloride catalysis, followed by sulfurization to form MoS2. The films nucleate uniformly and directionally on the miscut C/A sapphire substrate positioned 2 cm upstream of the Mo source, achieving high crystal quality with a low sulfur vacancy density of 8.49 × 1012 cm−2. Additionally, these films support the development of high-performance enhancement-mode MoS2 field-effect transistors, exhibiting excellent transport performances, including a high on–off ratio of 108, an average positive threshold voltage of 1.71 ± 0.32 V, an average mobility of 34.28 ± 0.46 cm2 V−1 s−1, and an average subthreshold swing of 155.8 ± 33.7 mV dec−1. Furthermore, high-performance rail-to-rail inverter gates and logic circuits with low power consumption (<0.3 nW) were successfully demonstrated, underscoring the potential of these MoS2 films for integrated circuit applications. This work offers a scalable and reliable approach for the fast growth of large-scale TMDs single-crystal films, accelerating their future applications in next-generation electronics.