Chemical vapor deposition: a potential tool for wafer scale growth of two-dimensional layered materials

Abstract The rapidly growing demand for high-performance and low-power electronic and photonic devices has driven attention towards novel two-dimensional (2D) layered materials. In this regard, 2D layered materials, including graphene, molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ), and newly discovered phosphorene, have the potential to take over the existing semiconductor industry due to their intriguing features, such as excellent electrical conductivity, strong light–matter interaction, and especially the ability to scale down the resulting device to the atomic level. However, to explore the full potential of these materials in various technological applications, it is essential to develop a large-scale synthesis method that can provide uniform, defect-free thin film. The chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique has been proven to produce large-scale and less defective 2D crystals with reasonably good quality and uniformity compared to other elaboration techniques, such as molecular beam epitaxy. This article discusses whether CVD may improve 2D layered materials growth, including graphene and MoS 2 , and whether it can be used to grow phosphorene. Only a few attempts have been made using CVD-like methods to grow phosphorene directly on the substrate. Still, one has to go long to establish a proper CVD method for phosphorene synthesis.