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Lateral heterojunctions within monolayer MoSe2–WSe2 semiconductors

Nature Materials volume 13, pages 1096–1101 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Heterojunctions between three-dimensional (3D) semiconductors with different bandgaps are the basis of modern light-emitting diodes1, diode lasers2 and high-speed transistors3. Creating analogous heterojunctions between different 2D semiconductors would enable band engineering within the 2D plane4,5,6 and open up new realms in materials science, device physics and engineering. Here we demonstrate that seamless high-quality in-plane heterojunctions can be grown between the 2D monolayer semiconductors MoSe2 and WSe2. The junctions, grown by lateral heteroepitaxy using physical vapour transport7, are visible in an optical microscope and show enhanced photoluminescence. Atomically resolved transmission electron microscopy reveals that their structure is an undistorted honeycomb lattice in which substitution of one transition metal by another occurs across the interface. The growth of such lateral junctions will allow new device functionalities, such as in-plane transistors and diodes, to be integrated within a single atomically thin layer.

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Figure 1: In-plane heteroepitaxy of 2D MoSe2–WSe2 lateral heterostructures.
Figure 2: TEM and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) characterization.
Figure 3: 1D interface between 2D semiconductors.
Figure 4: Photoluminescence from 1D heterointerfaces.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by DoE, BES, Materials Science and Engineering Division through X.X. (DE-SC0008145) and D.H.C. (DE-SC0002197). S.W. is supported partially by the State of Washington through the University of Washington Clean Energy Institute. W.Y. is supported by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong (HKU705513P), the University Grant Committee (AoE/P-04/08) of the government of Hong Kong, and the Croucher Foundation under the Croucher Innovation Award. X.X. is grateful for the support of the Research Corporation through a Cottrell Scholar Award. A.M.S. thanks the Science City Research Alliance and the HEFCE Strategic Development Fund for funding support. J.J.P.P. acknowledges EPSRC funding through a Doctoral Training Grant.

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Author notes

  1. Chunming Huang, Sanfeng Wu and Ana M. Sanchez: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA

    Chunming Huang, Sanfeng Wu, Pasqual Rivera, David H. Cobden & Xiaodong Xu

  2. Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK

    Ana M. Sanchez, Jonathan J. P. Peters & Richard Beanland

  3. Department of Material Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA

    Jason S. Ross & Xiaodong Xu

  4. Department of Physics and Center of Theoretical and Computational Physics, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Wang Yao

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  1. Chunming Huang
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Contributions

X.X. conceived the project. C.H. grew the material. S.W. led the sample characterization, assisted by C.H., J.S.R. and P.R., under the supervision of X.X. and D.H.C. A.M.S. led the aberration-corrected STEM, assisted by R.B. and J.J.P.P., with samples prepared by S.W. and C.H. S.W., D.H.C., X.X. and W.Y. wrote the paper with input from all authors.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Sanfeng Wu or Ana M. Sanchez.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Huang, C., Wu, S., Sanchez, A. et al. Lateral heterojunctions within monolayer MoSe2–WSe2 semiconductors. Nature Mater 13, 1096–1101 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4064

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