Comparative study of sodium and potassium compounds as promoters for growth of monolayer MoS2 with high crystal quality on SiO2/Si substrate

Monolayer MoS2 is promising candidate for fabrication of optoelectronic devices due to its direct bandgap nature and high carrier mobility. Alkali metal compounds have been demonstrated to be helpful promoters for the growth of large single crystal monolayer MoS2 on SiO2/Si substrate. However, the catalytic mechanism of alkali metal compounds is still under debate. Herein, we compared the surface morphology, optical properties, and electrical properties of monolayer MoS2 flakes grown on SiO2/Si substrate assisted by promoters containing potassium or sodium cations and halogen (chlorine) or non-halogen (hydroxide) anions, i.e., NaCl, NaOH, KCl and KOH. Based on the analysis of existing growth mechanism, we proposed that the alkali metal cation, plays a dominant role in promoting the lateral growth of monolayer MoS2 and obtaining high crystal quality. Furthermore, potassium has a greater promoting effect than sodium. By optimizing growth conditions, monolayer triangular MoS2 flakes with large lateral size over 160 µm were grown assisted by KCl promoter. Raman and PL spectra verified excellent crystal quality of the flakes, with typical electron mobilities of 2.98 and 20 cm2·V-1·s-1 for the back-gated filed effect transistors fabricated on as-grown and fresh SiO2/Si substrates, respectively.