How gold could “pull off” the next big thing for semiconductor devices
Researchers in Emil List-Kratochvil’s group at the Department of Chemistry of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin found that pressing a layered crystal of MoS2 onto an ultra-flat and clean gold surface, combined with a little bake, is all it takes to pull off a 2D atomic layer. This led to the development of a new gold-mediated exfoliation method which also allowed for a gold-mediated transfer of the obtained 2D materials onto arbitrary substrates. Beyond being a glamorous re-interpretation of scotch tape, the method also outperformed the latter on industrially relevant scales. The presented study could help to render gold-mediated exfoliations more robust and useful in an industrial setting by increasing the range of conditions and materials for which gold-mediated exfoliations perform well. In summary, this work could help to push 2D materials one step closer to industry - by using gold to “pull off” the next big thing in future electronics.
The work has been published in the journal pss (Rapid Research Letters) and has been highlighted with a feature article in Advanced Science News.
Research Paper: Max Heyl, et al., Thermally Activated Gold‐Mediated Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Exfoliation and a Unique Gold‐Mediated Transfer, pss (Rapid Research Letters) (2020). DOI: 10.1002/pssr.202000408
Feature Article: https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/how-sticky-gold-could-pull-off-the-next-big-thing-in-semiconductor-technology/