Universal mechanical exfoliation of large-area 2D crystals

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) materials provide extraordinary opportunities for exploring phenomena arising in atomically thin crystals. Beginning with the first isolation of graphene, mechanical exfoliation has been a key to provide high-quality 2D materials but despite improvements it is still limited in yield, lateral size and contamination. Here we introduce a contamination-free, one-step and universal Au-assisted mechanical exfoliation method and demonstrate its effectiveness by isolating 40 types of single-crystalline monolayers, including elemental 2D crystals, metal-dichalcogenides, magnets and superconductors. Most of them are of millimeter-size and high-quality, as shown by transfer-free measurements of electron microscopy, photo spectroscopies and electrical transport. Large suspended 2D crystals and heterojunctions were also prepared with high-yield. Enhanced adhesion between the crystals and the substrates enables such efficient exfoliation, for which we identify a common rule that underpins a universal route for producing large-area monolayers and thus supports studies of fundamental properties and potential application of 2D materials.

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Cited by in corpus (51)

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• Odd-even layer-number effect and layer-dependent magnetic phase diagrams in MnBi2Te4
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• Strong light-matter interactions between gap plasmons and two-dimensional excitons at ambient condition in a deterministic way
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• In-situ exfoliation method of large-area 2D materials
• Efficient current-induced spin torques and field-free magnetization switching in a room-temperature van der Waals magnet
• Recent Progress of Heterostructures Based on Two Dimensional Materials and Wide Bandgap Semiconductors
• Substrate impact on the thickness dependence of vibrational and optical properties of large area $Mo{S}_2$ produced by gold-assisted exfoliation
• Giant exchange splitting in the electronic structure of A-type 2D antiferromagnet CrSBr
• Exfoliation of 2D van der Waals crystals in ultrahigh vacuum for interface engineering
• Probing spin dynamics of ultra-thin van der Waals magnets via photon-magnon coupling
• Direct observation of topological surface state in the topological superconductor 2M-WS2
• Direct atomic layer deposition of ultra-thin $A{l}_2{O}_3$ and $Hf{O}_2$ films on gold-supported monolayer $Mo{S}_2$
• Prominent Josephson tunneling between twisted single copper oxide planes of Bi${}_2$Sr${}_{2-x}$LaxCuO${}_{6+y}$
• Evidence of Ferroelectricity in an Antiferromagnetic Vanadium Trichloride Monolayer
• 3D Hypersound Microscopy of Van der Waals Heterostructures
• Spatiotemporal Imaging of Thickness-Induced Band Bending Junctions
• Mono-elemental saturable absorber in mode-locked fiber laser: A review
• Twist angle dependent electronic properties of exfoliated single layer MoS${}_2$ on Au(111)
• Raman spectroscopy of monolayer to bulk PtSe2 exfoliated crystals
• Persistence of Monoclinic Crystal Structure in Three-Dimensional Second-Order Topological Insulator Candidate 1T'-MoTe2 Thin Flake without Structural Phase transition
• A New Moiré Platform Based on M-Point Twisting
• Growth of high-quality CrI3 single crystals and engineering of its magnetic properties via V and Mn doping
• Water induced bandgap engineering in nanoribbons of hexagonal boron nitride
• Reliable and Broad-range Layer Identification of Au-assisted Exfoliated Large Area MoS${}_2$ and WS${}_2$ Using Reflection Spectroscopic Fingerprints
• Pick-up and assembling of chemically sensitive van der Waals heterostructures using dry cryogenic exfoliation
• Realization of Z${}_2$ topological photonic insulators made from multilayer transition metal dichalcogenides
• Scalable transparent conductive thin films with electronically passive interfaces for direct chemical vapor deposition of 2D materials
• Writing and detecting topological charges in exfoliated Fe${}_{5-x}$GeTe${}_2$
• Engineering two-dimensional materials from single-layer NbS${}_2$
• Layer-dependent Raman spectroscopy of ultrathin Ta${}_2$Pd${}_3$Te${}_5$
• Freestanding Thin-Film Materials
• Anomalies in G and 2D Raman Modes of Twisted Bilayer Graphene Near the Magic Angle
• Magnetostriction of α-RuCl3 flakes in the zigzag phase
• Scratching lithography, manipulation, and soldering of 2D materials using microneedle probes
• Stacking-Mediated Diffusion of Ruthenium Nanoclusters in Graphite
• Strongly enhanced topological quantum phases in dual-surface AlO${}_x$-encapsulated MnBi${}_2$Te${}_4$
• Reflection, transmission and surface susceptibility tensor in two-dimensional materials
• Van der Waals devices for surface-sensitive experiments
• Ab-initio exploration of Gd monolayer interfaced with WSe${}_2$: from electronic and magnetic properties to the anomalous Hall effect
• Orientation- and pressure-dependence of the vibrational response of a monolayer crystal on a vicinal diamond surface
• A scenario for the critical fluctuations near the transition of few-bilayer films of high-temperature cuprate superconductors
• Atomic imaging of 2D transition metal dihalides
• Large-Area Deterministic Stamping of 2D Materials on Arbitrarily Patterned Surfaces
• Layered semiconductors integrated with polyimide thin films for high-quality valleytronic and quantum-photonic systems
• Momentum resolved ground/excited states and the ultra-fast excited state dynamics of monolayer MoS2
• Uniform Narrow Excitonic Spectrum in Large-Area Suspended WSe2 Monolayers