Highly stable 2D material (2DM) field-effect transistors (FETs) with wafer-scale multidyad encapsulation

Field-effect transistors (FETs) composed of 2D materials (2DMs) such as transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) materials show unstable electrical characteristics in ambient air due to the high sensitivity of 2DMs to water adsorbates. In this work, in order to demonstrate the long-term retention of electrical characteristics of a TMD FET, a multidyad encapsulation method was applied to a MoS₂ FET and thereby its durability was warranted for one month. It was well known that the multidyad encapsulation method was effective to mitigate high sensitivity to ambient air in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) composed of organic materials. However, there was no attempt to check the feasibility of such a multidyad encapsulation method for 2DM FETs. It is timely to investigate the water vapor transmission ratio (WVTR) required for long-term stability of 2DM FETs. The 2DM FETs were fabricated with MoS₂ flakes by both an exfoliation method, that is desirable to attain high quality film, and a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, that is applicable to fabrication for a large-sized substrate. In order to eliminate other unwanted variables, the MoS₂ FETs composed of exfoliated flakes were primarily investigated to assure the effectiveness of the encapsulation method. The encapsulation method uses multiple dyads comprised of a polymer layer by spin coating and an Al₂O₃ layer deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD). The proposed method shows wafer-scale uniformity, high transparency, and protective barrier properties against adsorbates (WVTR of 8 × 10^-6 g m^-2 day^-1) over one month.