Lateral Structural Phase-Patterning of MoS₂ for Nanoelectronic Applications

Van der Waals materials provide atomic-level control in stacking layers with widely varying material properties. Unlike epitaxial growth processes, the weak interplane bonding allows unlimited possibilities for each successive layer during vertical stacking. Thus, precise and complex heterostructures can be assembled. Current lateral patterning, however, relies on traditional lithographic processes that can introduce significant disorder. This disorder destroys fragile quantum electronic states such as fractional quantum Hall effect, Wigner crystallization, and other emergent phases in strongly correlated electron systems. We exploit the metastable structural phases of van der Waals materials to perform polymer-free nanopatterning of MoS₂. We use a 30 kV electron beam to selectively convert 2H-MoS₂ into its metallic 1T phase and characterize the transition through electrical transport measurements. At a critical beam dosing, the I-V characteristics begin to demonstrate ohmic behavior. The dependence of this dosing on the material thickness is also investigated. This technique unlocks the possibility of using a single material to create various electronic devices such as patterned electrostatic gates, field-effect transistors, Schottky diodes, quantum dots, and nanowires.