Towards Low-Temperature CVD Synthesis and Characterization of Mono- or Few-Layer Molybdenum Disulfide

Abstract

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) transistors are a promising alternative for the semiconductor industry due to their large on/off current ratio (>1010), immunity to short-channel effects, and unique switching characteristics. MoS2 has drawn considerable interest due to its intriguing electrical, optical, sensing, and catalytic properties. Monolayer MoS2 is a semiconducting material with a direct band gap of ~1.9 eV, which can be tuned. Commercially, the aim of synthesizing a novel material is to grow high-quality samples over a large area and at a low cost. Although chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth techniques are associated with a low-cost pathway and large-area material growth, a drawback concerns meeting the high crystalline quality required for nanoelectronic and optoelectronic applications. This research presents a lower-temperature CVD for the repeatable synthesis of large-size mono- or few-layer MoS2 using the direct vapor phase sulfurization of MoO3. The samples grown on Si/SiO2 substrates demonstrate a uniform single-crystalline quality in Raman spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning transmission electron microscopy. These characterization techniques were targeted to confirm the uniform thickness, stoichiometry, and lattice spacing of the MoS2 layers. The MoS2 crystals were deposited over the entire surface of the sample substrate. With a detailed discussion of the CVD setup and an explanation of the process parameters that influence nucleation and growth, this work opens a new platform for the repeatable synthesis of highly crystalline mono- or few-layer MoS2 suitable for optoelectronic application.