Ultra-clean assembly of van der Waals heterostructures

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2308.13484
• Publication Date: 2023-01-01
• Authors: Wendong Wang; Nick Clark; Matthew J. Hamer; Amy Carl; Endre Tóvári; Sam Sullivan−Allsop; Evan Tillotson; Yunze Gao; Hugo de Latour; Francisco Selles; James Howarth; Eli G. Castanon; Mingwei Zhou; Haoyu Bai; Xiao Li; Astrid Weston; Kenji Watanabe; Takashi Taniguchi; Cecilia Mattevi; Thomas H. Bointon; Paul V. Wiper; Andrew J. Strudwick; Л. А. Пономаренко; Andrey V. Kretinin; Sarah J. Haigh; Alex Summerfield; Р. В. Горбачев
• Keywords: Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics; Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall); FOS: Physical sciences; Physics - Applied Physics; Applied Physics (physics.app-ph); 7. Clean energy

Layer-by-layer assembly of van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures underpins new discoveries in solid state physics, material science and chemistry. Despite the successes, all current 2D (2DM) transfer techniques rely on use polymers which limit cleanliness, ultimate electronic performance, potential for optoelectronic applications heterostructures. In this article, we present a novel polymer-free platform rapid facile heterostructure utilises re-usable flexible silicon nitride membranes. We demonstrate that allows fast reproducible production using both exfoliated CVD-grown materials with perfect interfaces free from interlayer contamination correspondingly excellent behaviour, limited only by size intrinsic quality crystals used. Furthermore, removing need polymeric carriers possibilities vdW fabrication: at high temperatures up to 600{\deg}C, different environments including ultra-high vacuum (UHV) when are fully submerged liquids. UHV first time, show reliable creation graphene moir\'e superlattices more than an order magnitude improvement their structural homogeneity. believe broad adaptation our inorganic strategy will allow realisation full as physics advanced technologies.