Technological limitations of solid-source chemical vapor deposition of van der Waals heterostructures
Abstract The large-scale synthesis of van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHSs) is required to adopt these materials in electronic devices. However, the repeatable and controllable growth of vdWHSs has proven challenging. Here, we investigate the technological aspects of solid-source chemical vapor de...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-13921-4 |
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| author | Jakub Sitek Wojciech Sitek Ben R. Conran Xiaochen Wang Clifford McAleese Anna Kaleta Slawomir Kret Iwona Pasternak Mariusz Zdrojek Wlodek Strupinski |
| author_facet | Jakub Sitek Wojciech Sitek Ben R. Conran Xiaochen Wang Clifford McAleese Anna Kaleta Slawomir Kret Iwona Pasternak Mariusz Zdrojek Wlodek Strupinski |
| author_sort | Jakub Sitek |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The large-scale synthesis of van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHSs) is required to adopt these materials in electronic devices. However, the repeatable and controllable growth of vdWHSs has proven challenging. Here, we investigate the technological aspects of solid-source chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of two-dimensional heterostructures, with WS2/graphene and MoS2/graphene as examples. We show that by modification of one variable at least one another is unintentionally altered. For example, change in the growth pressure influences the evaporation rate of sulfur and shifts the position of one of the growth zones. We also perform a statistical screening of the 11 process parameters, indicating which of them impact the evaporation of the precursors. The screening indicates that the evaporation depends on weight of growth promoter (NaCl), growth temperature, precursors temperature, time difference between main and sulfur growth zones reaching the set temperatures, pressure, carrier gas flow, and process time. Finally, the five consecutive, identical growth processes show the seemingly inherent variability in synthesizing vdWHSs. We suggest that the high but limited airtightness of the CVD system or the substrate features can cause repeatability issues. Our study can facilitate future research on van der Waals heterostructures growth. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c60a72ef4ad34f3786900783da96c998 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-c60a72ef4ad34f3786900783da96c9982025-08-20T03:45:57ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-08-0115111410.1038/s41598-025-13921-4Technological limitations of solid-source chemical vapor deposition of van der Waals heterostructuresJakub Sitek0Wojciech Sitek1Ben R. Conran2Xiaochen Wang3Clifford McAleese4Anna Kaleta5Slawomir Kret6Iwona Pasternak7Mariusz Zdrojek8Wlodek Strupinski9Faculty of Physics, Warsaw University of TechnologyFaculty of Mechanical Engineering, Silesian University of TechnologyAIXTRON LtdAIXTRON LtdAIXTRON LtdInstitute of Physics, Polish Academy of SciencesInstitute of Physics, Polish Academy of SciencesFaculty of Physics, Warsaw University of TechnologyFaculty of Physics, Warsaw University of TechnologyFaculty of Physics, Warsaw University of TechnologyAbstract The large-scale synthesis of van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHSs) is required to adopt these materials in electronic devices. However, the repeatable and controllable growth of vdWHSs has proven challenging. Here, we investigate the technological aspects of solid-source chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of two-dimensional heterostructures, with WS2/graphene and MoS2/graphene as examples. We show that by modification of one variable at least one another is unintentionally altered. For example, change in the growth pressure influences the evaporation rate of sulfur and shifts the position of one of the growth zones. We also perform a statistical screening of the 11 process parameters, indicating which of them impact the evaporation of the precursors. The screening indicates that the evaporation depends on weight of growth promoter (NaCl), growth temperature, precursors temperature, time difference between main and sulfur growth zones reaching the set temperatures, pressure, carrier gas flow, and process time. Finally, the five consecutive, identical growth processes show the seemingly inherent variability in synthesizing vdWHSs. We suggest that the high but limited airtightness of the CVD system or the substrate features can cause repeatability issues. Our study can facilitate future research on van der Waals heterostructures growth.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-13921-4Chemical vapor deposition2D materialsVan der Waals heterostructuresCVD technologyTungsten disulfideGraphene |
| spellingShingle | Jakub Sitek Wojciech Sitek Ben R. Conran Xiaochen Wang Clifford McAleese Anna Kaleta Slawomir Kret Iwona Pasternak Mariusz Zdrojek Wlodek Strupinski Technological limitations of solid-source chemical vapor deposition of van der Waals heterostructures Scientific Reports Chemical vapor deposition 2D materials Van der Waals heterostructures CVD technology Tungsten disulfide Graphene |
| title | Technological limitations of solid-source chemical vapor deposition of van der Waals heterostructures |
| title_full | Technological limitations of solid-source chemical vapor deposition of van der Waals heterostructures |
| title_fullStr | Technological limitations of solid-source chemical vapor deposition of van der Waals heterostructures |
| title_full_unstemmed | Technological limitations of solid-source chemical vapor deposition of van der Waals heterostructures |
| title_short | Technological limitations of solid-source chemical vapor deposition of van der Waals heterostructures |
| title_sort | technological limitations of solid source chemical vapor deposition of van der waals heterostructures |
| topic | Chemical vapor deposition 2D materials Van der Waals heterostructures CVD technology Tungsten disulfide Graphene |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-13921-4 |
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