Direct Synthesis of Site-Specific MoS₂ Arrays via Microcontact Printing and Chemical Vapor Deposition

The scalable synthesis of site-specific, high-quality two-dimensional (2D) material arrays is essential for integrating 2D materials into next-generation integrated circuits. Conventional patterning methods often introduce defects and contamination. Here, we report a simple and efficient approach to fabricating monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) arrays by combining microcontact printing (μCP) with chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Sodium molybdate (Na₂MoO₄) aqueous solution droplet arrays are first printed onto SiO₂/Si substrates via μCP, followed by CVD to convert them into crystalline MoS₂ arrays. Via μCP, Na₂MoO₄ is confined to microscale circular areas arranged in an array on the substrate. This restricts the nucleation sites of MoS₂ during CVD to these microscale circular regions. As a result, a MoS₂ crystal array is obtained. The resulting arrays exhibit monolayer thickness (∼0.7 nm) and high crystalline quality, as confirmed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Raman and PL spectroscopy. Field-effect transistor (FET) arrays fabricated from these MoS₂ arrays exhibit typical n-type behavior with on/off ratios up to 10⁶ and mobilities reaching 9 cm² V^-1 s^-1. This method provides a straightforward, scalable, and minimally invasive route to site-specific 2D material synthesis for advanced electronics applications.