Low-defect-density WS2 by hydroxide vapor phase deposition

Two-dimensional (2D) semiconducting monolayers such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are promising channel materials to extend Moore's Law in advanced electronics. Synthetic TMD layers from chemical vapor deposition (CVD) are scalable for fabrication but notorious for their high defect densities. Therefore, innovative endeavors on growth reaction to enhance their quality are urgently needed. Here, we report that the hydroxide W species, an extremely pure vapor phase metal precursor form, is very efficient for sulfurization, leading to about one order of magnitude lower defect density compared to those from conventional CVD methods. The field-effect transistor (FET) devices based on the proposed growth reach a peak electron mobility similar to 200 cm(2)/Vs (similar to 800 cm(2)/Vs) at room temperature (15 K), comparable to those from exfoliated flakes. The FET device with a channel length of 100 nm displays a high on-state current of similar to 400 mu A/mu m, encouraging the industrialization of 2D materials.