Scanning probe lithography is used to directly pattern monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) without the use of a sacrificial resist. Using an atomic-force microscope, a negatively biased tip is brought close to the TMD surface. By inducing a water bridge between the tip and the TMD surface, controllable oxidation is achieved at the sub-100 nm resolution. The oxidized flake is then submerged into water for selective oxide removal which leads to controllable patterning. In addition, by changing the oxidation time, thickness tunable patterning of multilayer TMDs is demonstrated. This resist-less process results in exposed edges, overcoming a barrier in traditional resist-based lithography and dry etch where polymeric byproduct layers are often formed at the edges. By patterning monolayers into geometric patterns of different dimensions and measuring the effective carrier lifetime, the non-radiative recombination velocity due to edge defects is extracted. Using this patterning technique, it is shown that selenide TMDs exhibit lower edge recombination velocity as compared to sulfide TMDs. The utility of scanning probe lithography towards understanding material-dependent edge recombination losses without significantly normalizing edge behaviors due to heavy defect generation, while allowing for eventual exploration of edge passivation schemes is highlighted, which is of profound interest for nanoscale electronics and optoelectronics.

Monolayer 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have shown great promise for optoelectronic applications due to their direct bandgaps and unique physical properties. In particular, they can possess photoluminescence quantum yields (PL QY) approaching unity at the ultimate thickness limit, making their application in light-emitting devices highly promising. Here, large-area WS2 grown via chemical vapor deposition is synthesized and characterized for visible (red) light-emitting devices. Detail optical characterization of the synthesized films is performed, which show peak PL QY as high as 12%. Electrically pumped emission from the synthetic WS2 is achieved utilizing a transient-mode electroluminescence device structure, which consists of a single metal–semiconductor contact and alternating gate fields to achieve bipolar emission. Utilizing this aforementioned structure, a centimeter-scale (≈0.5 cm2) visible (640 nm) display is demonstrated, fabricated using TMDCs to showcase the potential of this material system for display applications.

Defects in conventional semiconductors substantially lower the photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY), a key metric of optoelectronic performance that directly dictates the maximum device efficiency. Two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), such as monolayer MoS₂, often exhibit low PL QY for as-processed samples, which has typically been attributed to a large native defect density. We show that the PL QY of as-processed MoS₂ and WS₂ monolayers reaches near-unity when they are made intrinsic through electrostatic doping, without any chemical passivation. Surprisingly, neutral exciton recombination is entirely radiative even in the presence of a high native defect density. This finding enables TMDC monolayers for optoelectronic device applications as the stringent requirement of low defect density is eased.

The reduction of carrier recombination processes by surface passivation is vital for highly efficient crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells and bulk wafer metrological characterization. Herein, we report a dip coating passivation of silicon surfaces in ambient air and temperature with Nafion, achieving a champion effective carrier lifetime of 12 ms on high resistivity n-type c-Si, which is comparable to state-of-the-art passivation methods. Nafion is a nonreactive polymer with strong Lewis acidity, thus leading to the formation of a large density of fixed charges at silicon surface, 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than what is achievable with conventional thin-film passivation layers. Notably, Nafion passivates the c-Si surface only by the fixed charges without chemical modification of dangling bonds, which is fundamentally different from the common practice of combining chemical with field-effect passivation. This dip coating process is simple and robust, without the need for complex equipment or parameter optimization as there is no chemical reaction involved.

One of the major challenges in the van der Waals (vdW) integration of two-dimensional (2D) materials is achieving high-yield and high-throughput assembly of predefined sequences of monolayers into heterostructure arrays. Mechanical exfoliation has recently been studied as a promising technique to transfer monolayers from a multilayer source synthesized by other techniques, allowing the deposition of a wide variety of 2D materials without exposing the target substrate to harsh synthesis conditions. Although a variety of processes have been developed to exfoliate the 2D materials mechanically from the source and place them deterministically onto a target substrate, they can typically transfer only either a wafer-scale blanket or one small flake at a time with uncontrolled size and shape. Here, we present a method to assemble arrays of lithographically defined monolayer WS2 and MoS2 features from multilayer sources and directly transfer them in a deterministic manner onto target substrates. This exfoliate-align-release process - without the need of an intermediate carrier substrate - is enabled by combining a patterned, gold-mediated exfoliation technique with a new optically transparent, heat-releasable adhesive. WS2/MoS2 vdW heterostructure arrays produced by this method show the expected interlayer exciton between the monolayers. Light-emitting devices using WS2 monolayers were also demonstrated, proving the functionality of the fabricated materials. Our work demonstrates a significant step toward developing mechanical exfoliation as a scalable dry transfer technique for the manufacturing of functional, atomically thin materials.

In this work, we report lateral heterojunction formation in as-exfoliated MoS2 flakes by thickness modulation. Kelvin probe force microscopy is used to map the surface potential at the monolayer-multilayer heterojunction, and consequently the conduction band offset is extracted. Scanning photocurrent microscopy is performed to investigate the spatial photocurrent response along the length of the device including the source and the drain contacts as well as the monolayer-multilayer junction. The peak photocurrent is measured at the monolayer-multilayer interface, which is attributed to the formation of a type-I heterojunction. The work presents experimental and theoretical understanding of the band alignment and photoresponse of thickness modulated MoS2 junctions with important implications for exploring novel optoelectronic devices.

Two-dimensional (2D) noble-metal dichalcogenides exhibit exceptionally strong thickness-dependent bandgaps, which can be leveraged in a wide variety of device applications. A detailed study of their optical (e.g., optical bandgaps) and electrical properties (e.g., mobilities) is important in determining potential future applications of these materials. In this work, we perform detailed optical and electrical characterization of 2D PdSe2 nanoflakes mechanically exfoliated from a single-crystalline source. Layer-dependent bandgap analysis from optical absorption results indicates that this material is an indirect semiconductor with bandgaps of approximately 1.37 and 0.50 eV for the monolayer and bulk, respectively. Spectral photoresponse measurements further confirm these bandgap values. Moreover, temperature-dependent electrical measurements of a 6.8-nm-thick PdSe2 flake-based transistor show effective electron mobilities of 130 and 520 cm2 V-1 s-1 at 300 K and 77 K, respectively. Finally, we demonstrate that PdSe2 can be utilized for short-wave infrared photodetectors. A room-temperature specific detectivity (D) of 1.8 × 1010 cm Hz1/2 W-1 at 1 μm with a band edge at 1.94 μm is achieved on a 6.8-nm-thick PdSe2 flake-based photodetector.

There is an emerging need for semiconductors that can be processed at near ambient temperature with high mobility and device performance. Although multiple n-type options have been identified, the development of their p-type counterparts remains limited. Here, we report the realization of tellurium thin films through thermal evaporation at cryogenic temperatures for fabrication of high-performance wafer-scale p-type field-effect transistors. We achieve an effective hole mobility of ~35 cm²V^-1s^-1, on/off current ratio of ~10⁴ and subthreshold swing of 108 mV dec^-1 on an 8-nm-thick film. High-performance tellurium p-type field-effect transistors are fabricated on a wide range of substrates including glass and plastic, further demonstrating the broad applicability of this material. Significantly, three-dimensional circuits are demonstrated by integrating multi-layered transistors on a single chip using sequential lithography, deposition and lift-off processes. Finally, various functional logic gates and circuits are demonstrated.

Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) monolayers are promising materials for next-generation nanoscale optoelectronics, including high-speed light sources and detectors. However, most past reports on TMDC light-emitting diodes are limited to operation in high vacuum, while most applications require operation under ambient conditions. In this work, we study the time-resolved electroluminescence of monolayer WSe2 p-n junctions under ambient conditions and identify the decay in current over time as the main issue preventing stable device operation. We show that pulsed voltage bias overcomes this issue and results in bright electroluminescence under ambient conditions. This is achieved in a simple single-gate structure, without the use of dual gates, heterostructures, or doping methods. Internal quantum efficiency of electroluminescence reaches ∼1%, close to the photoluminescence quantum efficiency, indicating efficient exciton formation with injected carriers. Emission intensity is stable over hours of device operation. Finally, our device exhibits ∼15 ns rise and fall times, the fastest direct modulation speed reported for TMDC light-emitting diodes.