Thermomechanical Nanocutting of 2D Materials

Developing lithography techniques for two-dimensional (2D) materials is essential for system integration and wafer-scale manufacturing. Here, a thermo-mechanical indentation technique is demonstrated, which allows for the direct cutting of 2D materials using a heated scanning nanotip. Arbitrarily shaped cuts with a resolution of 20 nm are obtained in monolayer 2D materials, i.e., molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe₂), molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂), and molybdenum diselenide (MoSe₂), by thermo-mechanically cleaving the chemical bonds and by rapid sublimation of the polymer layer underneath the 2D material layer. Several micro-/nanoribbon structures are fabricated and electrically characterized to demonstrate the process for device fabrication. The proposed direct nanocutting technique allows for precisely tailoring nanostructures of 2D materials with foreseen applications in the fabrication of electronic and photonic nanodevices.

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https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adma.202001232

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