New technique streamlines fabrication of 2D circuits

August 19, 2019

2-D materials hold great promise for creating atom-thin circuits that could power flexible electronics, optoelectronics, and other next-generation devices. However, fabricating these complex 2-D circuits requires multiple time-consuming, expensive steps. Professor Ju Li and other researchers from MIT and elsewhere have published research that describes a technique which streamlines this process--growing a 2-D material directly onto a patterned substrate and recycling the circuit patterns. 

The researchers grow a single layer of molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) onto a growth substrate in a chosen pattern. They can then transfer the material to its destination substrate so cleanly that the original patterned substrate can be reused as a mold. This process is much more efficient, and less likely to cause surface defects, than traditional techniques.