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A mass transfer technology for high-density two-dimensional device integration

Nature Electronics volume 8, pages 135–146 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

The large-area transfer of two-dimensional (2D) materials from their growth substrate is crucial for electronic device integration. However, it is easy to damage sub-1-nm thick materials, and existing transfer methods typically involve a trade-off in terms of lateral size, quality and accuracy. Here we report a mass transfer printing technology that uses a polydimethylsiloxane stamp patterned with precisely arranged micro-posts to gently transfer wafer-level 2D arrays and to stack van der Waals heterostructure arrays. After the stamp is brought into contact with the 2D material, an ethanol–water solution is added, which penetrates the 2D material–growth substrate interface between the non-contact regions of the stamp and causes the film to delaminate. We use the approach to transfer a 2-inch (~5 cm) monolayer molybdenum disulfide film containing more than 1,000,000 arrays with lateral dimensions of 20 × 20 µm2, a density of 62,500 arrays per cm2 and a yield of 99% in a single operation. Integrated 2D transistors with different device architectures created with the technology show a device yield of around 97.9% (back gate) and nearly damage-free electrical properties (top and bottom gate). We also develop a capillary force-assisted transfer model to explain the rapid transfer mechanism.

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Fig. 1: Schematic illustration of the MTP procedures for transfer and printing of wafer-scale 2D arrays.
Fig. 2: MTP of various types of MoS2 arrays determined by the shape of the PDMS stamp.
Fig. 3: Rapid transfer mechanism analysis based on a capillary phenomenon.
Fig. 4: Electrical characteristics of the MoS2-FET arrays with different device architectures.
Fig. 5: Integration of bottom gate MoS2-FETs for 2D driven circuits in an LED display system.

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Data availability

Source data are provided with this paper. All other data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the State Key Research and Development Program of China (grant no. 2022YFB3603902) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 62004042). We acknowledge N. Sheng Xu and S. Deng for the valuable advice on thesis writing.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Liwei Liu, Zhenggang Cai.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Frontier Institute of Chip and System, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Liwei Liu

  2. State Key Laboratory of ASIC and System, School of Microelectronics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Zhenggang Cai, Siwei Xue, Sifan Chen, Saifei Gou, Zhejia Zhang, Yiming Guo, Yusheng Yao, Wenzhong Bao & Peng Zhou

  3. State Key Laboratory of Photovoltaic Science and Technology, Shanghai Frontiers Science Research Base of Intelligent Optoelectronic and Perception, Institute of Optoelectronic and Department of Material Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Hai Huang

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Contributions

L.L. and P.Z. conceived the idea and initiated the present study. L.L., Z.C. and S.X. carried out the experiments and analysed the data. S.C., H.H., S.G., Y.G. and Z.Z. helped fabricate the MoS2-FETs arrays. Y.Y. assisted in performing the Raman spectroscopy tests. L.L. wrote the paper. W.B. and P. Z. contributed to discussions and paper revision.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Liwei Liu, Wenzhong Bao or Peng Zhou.

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Nature Electronics thanks Jiayang Wu, Cheng-Yan Xu and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information (download PDF )

Supplementary Figs. 1–36 and Table 1.

Supplementary Video 1 (download MP4 )

Transferred MoS2 arrays.

Supplementary Video 2 (download MP4 )

Transfer of 2D film.

Supplementary Video 3 (download MP4 )

Mixture solution penetrates along the non-contact regions rapidly.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1 (download XLSX )

Statistical source data from Fig. 1h,i.

Source Data Fig. 2 (download XLSX )

Statistical source data from Fig. 2q–s.

Source Data Fig. 4 (download XLSX )

Statistical source data from Fig. 4b,c,e,f,h,i.

Source Data Fig. 5 (download XLSX )

Statistical source data from Fig. 5c,d.

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Liu, L., Cai, Z., Xue, S. et al. A mass transfer technology for high-density two-dimensional device integration. Nat Electron 8, 135–146 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-024-01306-w

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