Celebration of Scholars
Exfoliating Molybdenum Disulfide from Large-Area Samples
Name:
Bradley Krueger
Major: Chemistry and Physics
Hometown: Marshfield,Wisconsin
Faculty Sponsor: Kevin Morris
Other Sponsors: Dr. Dipanjan Mazumdar
Type of research: Independent research
Funding: National Science Foundation
Abstract
Thin films studies of layered 2D materials have revealed that as MoS2 thickness approaches a monolayer, properties such as photoluminescence, electron mobility, and energy band-gap change significantly. MoS2 has attracted interest because of its electronic, optical, and catalytic properties that make it indispensable for applications in transistors, catalytic devices, and optoelectronics[1]. Through magnetron sputtering, bulk-like and few-layer MoS2 has been deposited on silicon (Si), silicon dioxide (SiO2), boron nitride (BN), and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) substrates. The deposited samples of MoS2 on the various substrate materials were analyzed by X-ray reflectivity (XRR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Ellipsometry. Literature has shown that on specific thicknesses of SiO2, with a simple optical microscope, there is significant enough contrast to differentiate mono- and few layer MoS2 from bulk [2],[3]. With additional analysis through atomic force microscopy (AFM), this technique was applied to exfoliated samples of bulk-like and few-layer MoS2 on a thickness-calibrated SiO2 substrate to identify and analyze large-area monolayer MoS2 flakes.Submit date: March 14, 2017, 2:45 p.m.