Heteroepitaxy of semiconducting 2H-MoTe₂ thin films on arbitrary surfaces for large-scale heterogeneous integration

The integration of two-dimensional semiconductors and arbitrary materials or architectures offers the possibility to enhance the functionality of a material and improve device performance. However, the traditional vertical epitaxy process requires a lattice-matched planar substrate, which limits the scope of heterogeneous integration. Bottom-up heteroepitaxial growth of single-crystal thin films on arbitrary materials with a large lattice mismatch typically results in highly defective interfaces. Here we report a general synthesis route for heteroepitaxial growth of semiconducting 2H-MoTe₂ films on arbitrary substrates with different crystal symmetries, lattice constants and three-dimensional architectures, which overcomes the limitation of the substrate. The in-plane two-dimensional epitaxy process through phase transition enables the direct synthesis of single-crystal semiconducting 2H-MoTe₂ films on arbitrary single-crystal substrates (including silicon, GaN, 4H-SiC, sapphire, SrTiO₃ and Gd₃Ga₅O₁₂) and three-dimensional architectures without the limitation of lattice matching and a planar surface. This heteroepitaxial method provides a way of heterogeneous integration of semiconducting 2H-MoTe₂ films with other functional materials or architectures for the fabrication of integrated devices. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]