nn7b04856_si_001.pdf (2.08 MB)
Wafer-Scale Synthesis of Semiconducting SnO Monolayers from Interfacial Oxide Layers of Metallic Liquid Tin
journal contribution
posted on 2017-10-18, 14:50 authored by Torben Daeneke, Paul Atkin, Rebecca Orrell-Trigg, Ali Zavabeti, Taimur Ahmed, Sumeet Walia, Maning Liu, Yasuhiro Tachibana, Maria Javaid, Andrew D. Greentree, Salvy P. Russo, Richard B. Kaner, Kourosh Kalantar-ZadehAtomically
thin semiconductors are one of the fastest growing categories
in materials science due to their promise to enable high-performance
electronic and optical devices. Furthermore, a host of intriguing
phenomena have been reported to occur when a semiconductor is confined
within two dimensions. However, the synthesis of large area atomically
thin materials remains as a significant technological challenge. Here
we report a method that allows harvesting monolayer of semiconducting
stannous oxide nanosheets (SnO) from the interfacial oxide layer of
liquid tin. The method takes advantage of van der Waals forces occurring
between the interfacial oxide layer and a suitable substrate that
is brought into contact with the molten metal. Due to the liquid state
of the metallic precursor, the surface oxide sheet can be delaminated
with ease and on a large scale. The SnO monolayer is determined to
feature p-type semiconducting behavior with a bandgap of ∼4.2
eV. Field effect transistors based on monolayer SnO are demonstrated.
The synthetic technique is facile, scalable and holds promise for
creating atomically thin semiconductors at wafer scale.