Van der Waals nanomesh electronics on arbitrary surfaces

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 2431
• Main Authors: Meng, You, Li, Xiaocui, Kang, Xiaolin, Li, Wanpeng, Wang, Wei, Lai, Zhengxun, Wang, Weijun, Quan, Quan, Bu, Xiuming, Yip, SenPo, Xie, Pengshan, Chen, Dong, Li, Dengji, Wang, Fei, Yeung, Chi-Fung, Lan, Changyong, Liu, Chuntai, Shen, Lifan, Lu, Yang, Chen, Furong, Wong, Chun-Yuen, Ho, Johnny C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 27.04.2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 147/137; 147/28; 639/301/357; 639/925/357; Chemical bonds; Chemical synthesis; Controllability; Electronic structure; Electronics; Electronics industry; Heterojunctions; Hole mobility; Humanities and Social Sciences; Infrared detectors; Low temperature; multidisciplinary; Nanotechnology; Nanowires; Optoelectronics; Photoelectric effect; Photoelectric properties; Photoelectricity; Photoresponse; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Semiconductors; Substrates; Tellurium; Welding
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38090-8

Chemical bonds, including covalent and ionic bonds, endow semiconductors with stable electronic configurations but also impose constraints on their synthesis and lattice-mismatched heteroepitaxy. Here, the unique multi-scale van der Waals (vdWs) interactions are explored in one-dimensional tellurium (Te) systems to overcome these restrictions, enabled by the vdWs bonds between Te atomic chains and the spontaneous misfit relaxation at quasi-vdWs interfaces. Wafer-scale Te vdWs nanomeshes composed of self-welding Te nanowires are laterally vapor grown on arbitrary surfaces at a low temperature of 100 °C, bringing greater integration freedoms for enhanced device functionality and broad applicability. The prepared Te vdWs nanomeshes can be patterned at the microscale and exhibit high field-effect hole mobility of 145 cm 2 /Vs, ultrafast photoresponse below 3 μs in paper-based infrared photodetectors, as well as controllable electronic structure in mixed-dimensional heterojunctions. All these device metrics of Te vdWs nanomesh electronics are promising to meet emerging technological demands. The limited scalability of 1D semiconductors has restricted their large-area optoelectronic applications so far. Here, the authors report the low-temperature synthesis of wafer-scale van der Waals nanomeshes composed of self-welding Te nanowires on various substrates, showing improved transport and photoelectric properties.