What Are 2D Materials Good For?

This talk will present my (biased!) perspective of what two-dimensional (2D) materials could be good for. For example, they may be good for applications where their ultrathin nature and lack of dangling bonds give them distinct advantages, such as flexible electronics [1] or DNA-sorting nanopores [2]. They may not be good where conventional materials work sufficiently well, like transistors thicker than a few nanometers. I will focus on 2D materials for 3D heterogeneous integration of electronics, which presents significant advantages for energy-efficient computing [3]. In this context, 2D materials could be monolayer transistors with ultralow leakage [4] (thanks to larger band gaps than silicon), used as access devices for high-density memory [5]. Recent results from our group have shown monolayer transistors with record performance [6,7], which cannot be achieved with sub-nanometer thin conventional semiconductors, and the 2D performance could be further boosted by strain [8]. I will also describe some unconventional applications, using 2D materials as good thermal insulators [9] and as thermal transistors [10]. These could enable control of heat in “thermal circuits” analogous with electrical circuits. Combined, these studies reveal fundamental limits and some unusual applications of 2D materials, which take advantage of their unique properties.

Refs: [1] A. Daus et al., Nature Elec. 4, 495 (2021). [2] J. Shim et al. Nanoscale 9, 14836 (2017). [3] M. Aly et al., Computer 48, 24 (2015). [4] C. Bailey et al., EMC (2019). [5] A. Khan et al. Science 373, 1243 (2021). [6] C. English et al., IEDM, Dec 2016. [7] C. McClellan et al. ACS Nano 15, 1587 (2021). [8] I Datye et al., Nano Lett. 22, 8052 (2022). [9] S. Vaziri et al., Science Adv. 5, eaax1325 (2019). [10] M. Chen et al., 2D Mater. 8, 035055 (2021).