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An innovative way of etching MoS2: Characterization and mechanistic investigation

Nano Research volume 6, pages 200–207 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

We report a systematic study of the etching of MoS2 crystals by using XeF2 as a gaseous reactant. By controlling the etching process, monolayer MoS2 with uniform morphology can be obtained. The Raman and photoluminescence spectra of the resulting material were similar to those of exfoliated MoS2. Utilizing this strategy, different patterns such as a Hall bar structure and a hexagonal array can be realized. Furthermore, the etching mechanism was studied by introducing graphene as an etching mask. We believe our technique opens an easy and controllable way of etching MoS2, which can be used to fabricate complex nanostructures, such as nanoribbons, quantum dots, and transistor structures. This etching process using XeF2 can also be extended to other interesting two-dimensional crystals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Yuan Huang & Chengmin Shen

  2. Department of Physics, 2 Science Drive 3, National University of Singapore, 117542, Singapore, Singapore

    Yuan Huang, Jing Wu, Xiangfan Xu, Yuda Ho, Guangxin Ni, Qiang Zou, Gavin Kok Wai Koon, Weijie Zhao, A. H. Castro Neto, Goki Eda & Barbaros Özyilmaz

  3. Graphene Research Centre, 6 Science Drive 2, National University of Singapore, 117542, Singapore, Singapore

    Yuan Huang, Jing Wu, Xiangfan Xu, Yuda Ho, Guangxin Ni, Qiang Zou, Gavin Kok Wai Koon, Weijie Zhao, A. H. Castro Neto, Goki Eda & Barbaros Özyilmaz

  4. Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 6 Science Drive 2, 117546, Singapore, Singapore

    Weijie Zhao & Goki Eda

  5. Nanocore, 4 Engineering Drive 3, National University of Singapore, 117576, Singapore, Singapore

    Barbaros Özyilmaz

  6. NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering (NGS), Centre for Life Sciences (CeLS), 28 Medical Drive, 117456, Singapore, Singapore

    A. H. Castro Neto & Barbaros Özyilmaz

Authors
  1. Yuan Huang
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  2. Jing Wu
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  9. A. H. Castro Neto
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  12. Barbaros Özyilmaz
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Correspondence to Barbaros Özyilmaz.

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These two authors made an equal contribution to the work.

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Huang, Y., Wu, J., Xu, X. et al. An innovative way of etching MoS2: Characterization and mechanistic investigation. Nano Res. 6, 200–207 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-013-0296-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-013-0296-8

Keywords

  • MoS2
  • etching
  • XeF2
  • graphene
  • photoluminescence
  • hexagonal