Xinhua News Agency, Nanjing, January 30 (Reporter Chen Xiyuan) As the performance of silicon-based chips approaches physical limits, scientists around the world are seeking alternatives. Molybdenum disulfide, among others, is one of them. On the 30th, the top academic journal "Science" published online a collaborative paper by the teams of Wang Xinran and Li Taotao from Nanjing University and Wang Jinlan from Southeast University. They innovatively developed the "oxygen-assisted metal-organic chemical vapor deposition technology," breaking through the technical challenges that have constrained the large-scale preparation of molybdenum disulfide films.
Wang Xinran introduced that molybdenum disulfide has excellent electrical properties, but it is not easy to replace silicon-based materials. As a later entrant, molybdenum disulfide needs to adapt to the mature processes of existing semiconductor production lines, which is the metal-organic chemical vapor deposition technology.
"During the vapor deposition process, the metal-organic precursor decomposes when heated, and the reaction products adhere to the surface of the substrate, forming a molybdenum disulfide film," said Li Taotao. However, traditional metal-organic chemical vapor deposition technology is limited by reaction kinetics, not only resulting in slow growth rates of the film, but also producing carbon impurities during the decomposition of the precursor, seriously affecting the quality of the film.
To solve these problems, the team conducted years of research and proposed introducing oxygen assistance, allowing oxygen to combine with the carbon elements in the precursor under high temperature conditions, thus reducing carbon pollution. Following this idea, the team fabricated a 6-inch molybdenum disulfide film. Experimental results showed that the growth rate of the film was two to three orders of magnitude higher than that of the traditional method.
Wang Xinran said that the team has now mastered key industrialization technologies such as two-dimensional semiconductor substrate engineering and kinetic control. Since silicon-based semiconductor production lines mainly use 12-inch films, the team is accelerating the development of new vapor deposition equipment, and the next step will be to attempt the large-scale preparation of 12-inch molybdenum disulfide films.
The reviewers of "Science" believe that this study has solved the long-standing problems of kinetics limitations and carbon pollution in traditional metal-organic chemical vapor deposition technology, and has significant importance for accelerating the transition of two-dimensional semiconductors from the laboratory to the production line. (End)
Original: toutiao.com/article/7600948397813531163/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.