Chemically Tailored Growth of 2D Semiconductors via Hybrid Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition.

Zhang, Zhepeng; Hoang, Lauren; Hocking, Marisa; Peng, Zhenghan; Hu, Jenny; Zaborski, Gregory; Reddy, Pooja D; Dollard, Johnny et al. · ACS Nano · 2024

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) semiconducting transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are an exciting platform for excitonic physics and next-generation electronics, creating a strong demand to understand their growth, doping, and heterostructures. Despite significant progress in solid-source (SS-) and metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), further optimization is necessary to grow highly crystalline 2D TMDCs with controlled doping. Here, we report a hybrid MOCVD growth method that combines liquid-phase metal precursor deposition and vapor-phase organo-chalcogen delivery to leverage the advantages of both MOCVD and SS-CVD. Using our hybrid approach, we demonstrate WS<sub>2</sub> growth with tunable morphologies─from separated single-crystal domains to continuous monolayer films─on a variety of substrates, including sapphire, SiO<sub>2</sub>, and Au. These WS<sub>2</sub> films exhibit narrow neutral exciton photoluminescence line widths down to 27-28 meV and room-temperature mobility up to 34-36 cm<sup>2</sup> V<sup>-1</sup> s<sup>-1</sup>. Through simple modifications to the liquid precursor composition, we demonstrate the growth of V-doped WS<sub>2</sub>, Mo<sub><i>x</i></sub>W<sub>1-<i>x</i></sub>S<sub>2</sub> alloys, and in-plane WS<sub>2</sub>-MoS<sub>2</sub> heterostructures. This work presents an efficient approach for addressing a variety of TMDC synthesis needs on a laboratory scale.