Assembly of High-Performance van der Waals Devices Using Commercial Polyvinyl Chloride Films

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Le, Son T., Schwartz, Jeffrey J., Esatu, Tsegereda K., Jois, Sharadh, Centrone, Andrea, Grutter, Karen E., Hanbicki, Aubrey T., Friedman, Adam L.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Le, Son T.
Schwartz, Jeffrey J.
Esatu, Tsegereda K.
Jois, Sharadh
Centrone, Andrea
Grutter, Karen E.
Hanbicki, Aubrey T.
Friedman, Adam L.
author_facet Le, Son T.
Schwartz, Jeffrey J.
Esatu, Tsegereda K.
Jois, Sharadh
Centrone, Andrea
Grutter, Karen E.
Hanbicki, Aubrey T.
Friedman, Adam L.
contents Control over the position, orientation, and stacking order of two-dimensional (2D) materials within van der Waals heterostructures is crucial for applications in electronics, spintronics, optics, and sensing. The most popular strategy for assembling 2D materials uses purpose-built stamps with working surfaces made from one of several different polymers. However, these stamps typically require tedious preparation steps and suffer from poor durability, contamination, and limited applicability to specific 2D materials or surfaces. Here, we demonstrate significant improvements upon current 2D flake transfer and assembly practices by using mechanically durable stamps made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) thin films. These stamps are simpler to prepare compared with existing methods and can withstand multiple transfer cycles, enabling greater reusability. We use two commercially available PVC films with distinct pick-up and release temperatures. Together, these films also enable polymer-to-polymer flake transfers and stack-and-flip fabrication of inverted heterostructures in one seamless process. Systematic comparisons of cleaning processes confirm the removal of PVC-derived residue from the assembled structures to create atomically clean interfaces. We demonstrate the utility and versatility of these polymer films and transfer process by fabricating graphene/hexagonal boron nitride heterostructure devices with high-performance electrical characteristics. Further, we demonstrate the ability to pick up and to deposit bulk aluminum gallium arsenide nanostructured films, enabling the creation of heterogeneously integrated devices. This technique increases fabrication rates, improves device quality, and enables more complex structures, thereby facilitating nanomaterial assembly in a broad range of applications.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_08579
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Assembly of High-Performance van der Waals Devices Using Commercial Polyvinyl Chloride Films
Le, Son T.
Schwartz, Jeffrey J.
Esatu, Tsegereda K.
Jois, Sharadh
Centrone, Andrea
Grutter, Karen E.
Hanbicki, Aubrey T.
Friedman, Adam L.
Materials Science
Control over the position, orientation, and stacking order of two-dimensional (2D) materials within van der Waals heterostructures is crucial for applications in electronics, spintronics, optics, and sensing. The most popular strategy for assembling 2D materials uses purpose-built stamps with working surfaces made from one of several different polymers. However, these stamps typically require tedious preparation steps and suffer from poor durability, contamination, and limited applicability to specific 2D materials or surfaces. Here, we demonstrate significant improvements upon current 2D flake transfer and assembly practices by using mechanically durable stamps made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) thin films. These stamps are simpler to prepare compared with existing methods and can withstand multiple transfer cycles, enabling greater reusability. We use two commercially available PVC films with distinct pick-up and release temperatures. Together, these films also enable polymer-to-polymer flake transfers and stack-and-flip fabrication of inverted heterostructures in one seamless process. Systematic comparisons of cleaning processes confirm the removal of PVC-derived residue from the assembled structures to create atomically clean interfaces. We demonstrate the utility and versatility of these polymer films and transfer process by fabricating graphene/hexagonal boron nitride heterostructure devices with high-performance electrical characteristics. Further, we demonstrate the ability to pick up and to deposit bulk aluminum gallium arsenide nanostructured films, enabling the creation of heterogeneously integrated devices. This technique increases fabrication rates, improves device quality, and enables more complex structures, thereby facilitating nanomaterial assembly in a broad range of applications.
title Assembly of High-Performance van der Waals Devices Using Commercial Polyvinyl Chloride Films
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.08579