Selective Wet Etching for Scalable Nanofabrication of Patterned MXene Thin Films.

Favelukis, Bar; Ratzker, Barak; Juhl, Yonatan; Chneider, Noy Stein; Ashuach, Omer; Greenberg, Avia; Jopp, Jürgen; Shekhter, Pini et al. · Nano Lett · 2025

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The integration of MXenes, a class of conductive two-dimensional materials, into the microelectronics industry is largely hindered by the lack of scalable patterning methods. Herein, we present a novel wet etching approach for Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>T<sub><i>z</i></sub> MXene micropatterning, offering a facile, clean, cost-effective, and highly controllable technique that preserves the MXene intrinsic electrical and structural properties. By tailoring the etching solution and process parameters, micropatterned MXene electrodes with ∼200 nm lateral resolution were produced. The patterned films were applied to functional devices, including metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetectors, which demonstrated high conductivity and enhanced photoresponsivity. This work represents the first demonstration of wet etching as a viable method for highly precise MXene patterning, providing a scalable solution for next-generation MXene-based microelectronic technologies.