Revisiting 2D materials fabrication with a fully mechanized platform

Since manual mechanical exfoliation, or “tape exfoliation,” produced mono and few-layered graphene in 2004, researchers have made tremendous progress in two-dimensional (2D) material research. In particular, 2D materials are one of the most versatile motifs for generating new quantum information science materials since one layer in arbitrary stacks forms heterostructures unconstrained by epitaxy. However, while researchers have discovered many novel heterostructures with unique properties, it has been challenging to study and utilize 2D materials because of the time- and labor-consuming preparation processes involved. Here, I will introduce the Quantum Material Press (QPress), a unique, automated user facility for 2D material heterostructure fabrication.

First, a fully mechanized exfoliation platform, or "exfoliator," employing pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) tape in a roller assembly can control the entire exfoliation process instead of human hands. This roller assembly can independently regulate various rolling and peeling conditions and allows us to study physical mechanisms in tape exfoliation. Second, a mechanized dry transfer platform, "stacker," can manipulate substrate and stamp movement in 3- and 6-axis, respectively. It enables us to develop a transfer technique to fabricate high-quality 2D heterostructures with clean interfaces. In this talk, I will discuss the underlying mechanisms of tape exfoliation and dry transfer studied with the QPress facility.