Chemical Vapor Deposition of Two-Dimensional Materials

Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) has emerged as a principal route for the synthesis of atomically thin films with controlled thickness, lateral dimensions and crystallinity. In a typical CVD process, volatile precursors are transported in a carrier gas to a heated substrate, where they undergo surface reactions that yield two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene, hexagonal boron nitride and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). Precise control of parameters—substrate chemistry, temperature, pressure, precursor concentration and carrier gas flow—enables tuning of nucleation density, grain size and layer number. Innovations such as face-to-face precursor supply, self-capping reactions and promoter-assisted growth have accelerated wafer-scale production, while emerging approaches integrate sequential deposition and etching to assemble vertical and lateral heterostructures. The ability to tailor domain orientation, suppress defects and form large-grain monolayers underpins advances in nanoelectronics, photonics and sensor platforms, highlighting the global significance of CVD-grown 2D materials for next-generation technologies.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have demonstrated the direct synthesis of uniform monolayer molybdenum disulfide films up to six inches in diameter on soda-lime glass substrates using a face-to-face metal-precursor supply route. The rapid eight-minute growth, facilitated by sodium catalysts homogeneously distributed in the glass, produced continuous domains exceeding 400 µm in edge length and revealed the importance of alkali promoters in accelerating lateral growth. Another advance employs a self-capping vapour–liquid–solid mechanism wherein a eutectic intermediate (Na₂Mo₂O₇) forms on the substrate surface and modulates nucleation density. By adjusting the driving force of the sulphurisation reaction, researchers achieved millimetre-sized monolayer flakes, centimetre-scale full-coverage films and record-high average grain sizes of 450 µm, enabling field-effect transistors with mobilities above 30 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ and on/off ratios exceeding 10⁸ across a 1.5 cm × 1.5 cm area.

Chemical Vapor Deposition of Two-Dimensional Materials publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in chemical vapor deposition of two-dimensional materials across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Chemical vapour deposition (CVD): A technique in which gaseous precursors react on a heated substrate to form thin films.

Two-dimensional materials: Atomically thin crystalline layers with strong in-plane bonds and weak out-of-plane interactions.

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs): A class of 2D semiconductors with formula MX₂, where M is a transition metal and X a chalcogen.

Monolayer: A single atomic layer of a material, offering distinct electronic and optical properties from bulk.

Heterostructure: A layered assembly of dissimilar 2D materials with atomically sharp interfaces.

Nucleation density: The number of initial crystalline seeds per unit area during film growth.

Van der Waals epitaxy: The growth of 2D layers on substrates using weak van der Waals forces to accommodate lattice mismatch.

References

1. Batch production of 6-inch uniform monolayer molybdenum disulfide catalyzed by sodium in glass. Nature Communications (2018).
2. Fast growth of large-grain and continuous MoS2 films through a self-capping vapor-liquid-solid method. Nature Communications (2020).
3. Emerging MoS2 Wafer-Scale Technique for Integrated Circuits. Nano-Micro Letters (2023).
4. Chemical Vapor Deposition of High‐Quality Large‐Sized MoS2 Crystals on Silicon Dioxide Substrates. Advanced Science (2016).
5. Thermodynamically Stable Synthesis of Large‐Scale and Highly Crystalline Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Monolayers and their Unipolar n–n Heterojunction Devices. Advanced Materials (2017).