Etchless transition metal dichalcogenide surface nanostructure definition using block copolymer templates

Abstract

The proliferation of advanced portable technology places substantial demands on current patterning techniques to satisfy future device and data needs. Therefore, research on integrating high-performing nanomaterials such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) with industry standard patterning methods is critical to achieving ultra-low-power devices. We describe methods based upon combining TMD materials with bottom-up block copolymer (BCP) templating processes. While there has been much focus on processing layered 2D materials, these methods can be extremely difficult to control. Moreover, little work exists on creating isolated nanofeatures of TMDs for device use in an etchless manner. We detail an effective route based on BCP nanopatterning to precisely position TMD features at semiconductor surfaces with sub-l0 nm resolution.