Atomically Thin Wafers and Superlattices

Manufacturing of paper, which started two thousand years ago, simplified all aspects of information technology: generation, processing, communication, delivery and storage. Similarly powerful changes have been seen in the past century through the development of integrated circuits based on silicon. In this talk, I will discuss how we can realize these integrated circuits thin and free-standing, just like paper, using two-dimensional materials based on transition metal dichalcogenides and hybrid superlattices.

In order to build these atomically thin circuits, we developed a series of chemistry-based approaches that are scalable and precise. They include wafer-scale synthesis of three atom thick semiconductors and heterojunctions (Nature, 2015; Science 2018), a wafer-scale patterning method for one-atom-thick lateral heterojunctions (Nature, 2012), and most recently, atomically thin films and devices that are vertically stacked to form more complicated circuitry (Nature, 2017). Once realized, these atomically thin circuits will be foldable and actuatable, which will further increase the device density and functionality.