Fabrication of Sub-Micrometer-Sized MoS₂ Thin-Film Transistor by Phase Mode AFM Lithography

The phase mode atomic force microscopy (AFM) lithography and monolayer lift-off process are combined to fabricate electronics based on 2D materials (2DMs), which remove the need for pre-fabricating markers and increase the accuracy of the overlay and alignment. The promising phase mode of AFM lithography eliminates the drawbacks of the conventional force mode such as the over-cut, under-cut, debris effect, and severe tip wear. The planar size of MoS₂ thin-film transistors is shrunken down to sub-micrometer by the proposed method, and the fabricated devices demonstrate n-type characteristics. It offers a more flexible and easier way to fabricate prototypes of sub-micrometer-sized 2DMs based devices, and gives the opportunity to explore the size effect on the performance of 2DMs devices.