This technology is a direct assembly method for 2D layered materials that does not introduce outside contaminants to the active interface.
Existing methods for creating layered assemblies for ultra-thin heterostructure devices utilize a direct polymer transfer technique that leaves polymer residue on the 2D material surface. This necessitates device annealing to reduce residue and improve electrical performance. However, the high annealing temperature required limits the useable substrates for the heterostructures and polymer transfer technique can leave surface contamination. As such, there is a need for a method to assemble heterostructures without polymer transfer and annealing.
This technology exploits the van der Waals forces between 2D layers to create layered assemblies with atomically clean interfaces without annealing. Van der Waals forces are sufficiently strong to remove the desired assembly layer from its base substrate and ensure adherence to the assembly stack, introducing no residue and forgoing the need for annealing. Through this layered assembly, high performance heterostructure devices can be fabricated for an array of electronics applications including biosensors and transistors.
A prototype of this layered assembly has been tested and shown to have robust performance without annealing.
Patent Pending (US 20160240692)
IR CU14033, CU14034
Licensing Contact: Richard Nguyen