Observation and characterization of grain boundaries in monolayer MoSe2

Hongliang Ma, Chang He, Zihao Guo, Qiang Gao, Xiaojing Wang, Yuan Huang, Jie Ding*, Wendong Zhang*, Xuge Fan*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Grain boundaries of MoSe2 impact their electrical, optoelectronic, and mechanical properties. The simple, efficient and rapid method to visualize the large-area grains and grain boundaries in MoSe2 is highly demanded but still lacking. Here, we show a simple, efficient, and rapid method for visualization of large-area grain boundaries in continuous CVD monolayer MoSe2 films that were transferred on a SiO2 substrate. As the monolayer MoSe2 was exposed to vapor hydrofluoric acid (VHF), the VHF diffused through grain boundary-based defects in the MoSe2 films and resulted in differential etching of the SiO2 at the MoSe2 grain boundaries and the SiO2 underneath the MoSe2 grains. The positions of the grain boundaries were prominent owing to the height difference of SiO2 and can be observed using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, or Raman spectroscopy. This method would contribute to optimizing the growth process of MoSe2 and its device application.

Original languageEnglish
Article number025920
JournalPhysica Scripta
Volume100
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2025

Keywords

  • 2D materials
  • grain boundaries
  • grains
  • graphene
  • MoSe
  • vapor hydrofluoric acid

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Ma, H., He, C., Guo, Z., Gao, Q., Wang, X., Huang, Y., Ding, J., Zhang, W., & Fan, X. (2025). Observation and characterization of grain boundaries in monolayer MoSe2. Physica Scripta, 100(2), Article 025920. https://doi.org/10.1088/1402-4896/ada2c2