Smart Nanofabrication via Rational Assembly of Two-Dimensional Heterosystems

自从十年前石墨烯被发现以来，不同电子性质的原子级薄纳米片已经成为研究界的焦点。这些纳米片可以是半导体的、绝缘的或半金属的，并且可能用作下一代纳米尺度制造的基本构建块。该奖项将解决当今半导体微制造中的几个已知挑战。研究将涉及超薄膜实现，原子尺度控制，自限制组装和异构集成的研究。基于层的智能纳米制造的概念允许不同纳米材料的灵活集成。这项研究工作将缩小纳米材料科学研究与商业应用之间的差距。从更广泛的角度来看，制造策略可以扩展到一个大家族的二维和三维纳米结构。由此产生的材料系统将潜在地影响各种领域，包括柔性电子、太阳能电池、光电子、传感器和通过创新工程实现的多功能集成。这项工作将为学生提供独特的机会，获得材料科学，物理学，器件和纳米纤维的跨学科研究经验，在研究和学习中创造巨大的协同作用。传播科学发现并将其纳入本科生、研究生和专业教育的课程编制，将确保对科学、教育和公众产生广泛影响。 该研究通过基于逐层组装的材料加工策略探索二维货车德瓦尔斯功能异质结构和纳米器件技术，旨在建立一个通用的，跨越式的纳米制造平台，以规避传统薄膜制造中众所周知的问题。本研究由两个任务组成：（i）探索由不同性质的纳米片制成的二维异质结构的基本行为，并发现基于原子层的纳米纤维的关键准则和途径。(ii)在材料平台上演示二维异质结场效应晶体管，并研究设计中的关键问题，包括可扩展性、可制造性和可靠性。该研究旨在从科学和工程的角度深入了解开发逐层组装的智能制造策略，该策略可能适用于广泛的纳米级器件和组件，并得到最先进的nanofab设施的支持。

Since the discovery of graphene about ten years ago, atomically-thin nanosheets of different electronic nature have become the focal point for the research community. These nanosheets could be semiconducting, insulating, or semi-metallic, and potentially useful as the basic building-blocks for the next-generation nano-scale manufacturing. This award will address several known challenges in today's semiconductor microfabrication. Research will involve studies of super thin-film implementation, atomic-scale control, self-limiting assembly, and heterogeneous integration. The concept of layer-based smart nanomanufacturing allows for flexible integration of different nanomaterials. The research work will close the gap between science-driven research in nanomaterials and commercial applications. In a broader view, the fabrication strategy could be extended to a large family of two-dimensional and three-dimensional nanostructures. The resulting material systems will potentially impact a variety of areas, including flexible electronics, solar cells, optoelectronics, sensors, and multifunctional integration via innovative engineering. This work will open unique opportunities for students to acquire interdisciplinary research experience in material science, physics, devices, and nanofabrication, creating great synergy in research and learning. The dissemination of scientific discoveries and its inclusion in curriculum development in undergraduate, graduate, and professional education would ensure broad impacts to scientific, educational, and the general public. The research explores two-dimensional van der Waals functional heterostructures and nano-device technology via a layer-by-layer assembly-based material processing strategy, aimed at establishing a versatile, leap-forward nanofabrication platform that circumvents the well-known issues in the traditional thin-film based fabrication. The research is composed of two tasks: (i) Exploring fundamental behavior of two-dimensional heterostructures made by nanosheets of different nature and discovering key guidelines and pathway towards atomic layer based nanofabrication. (ii) Demonstrating two-dimensional heterostructure field-effect transistor on the material platform and studying the critical design issues including scalability, manufacturability, and reliability. The research aims to acquire in-depth understanding from both scientific and engineering perspective towards developing layer-by-layer assembly-enabled, smart manufacturing strategy potentially applicable to a broad range of nanoscale devices and components, supported by the state-of-the-art nanofab facilities at the University.