2D semiconductors sped up
Researchers reported a method that accelerates the growth of 2D semiconductor layers roughly 1,000× faster, aiming to improve production for next‑generation electronics. (x.com). The update specifically mentions a dramatic throughput improvement in producing the thin crystalline sheets used in advanced chips and sensors. (x.com)
Two-dimensional semiconductors are sheets just one or a few atoms thick, and researchers in China say they can now grow some of them about 1,000 times faster than before. (nature.com) (scmp.com) These materials are being studied because silicon transistors lose performance when their channels shrink below a few nanometres, while atomically thin semiconductors can keep working at that scale. Nature Nanotechnology said in 2024 that 2D semiconductors are being pursued as channel materials for sub-nanometre devices and stacked three-dimensional chips. (nature.com) The new report came from a team led by Zhu Mengjian, Ren Wencai and Xu Chuan, with findings published online on March 26, 2026 in National Science Review, according to South China Morning Post’s account of the paper. The team said it reworked chemical vapour deposition, a standard crystal-growth method, by using a liquid gold and tungsten bilayer as the growth surface. (scmp.com) On that surface, the researchers grew monolayer tungsten silicon nitride films with tunable doping, meaning the material’s electrical behavior can be adjusted by adding tiny amounts of other elements. South China Morning Post reported the growth rate rose from as little as 1 micrometre in five hours to 20 micrometres per minute. (scmp.com) The films reached 3.6 centimetres by 1.8 centimetres, and the single-crystal regions expanded to sub-millimetre dimensions. The same report said the material also showed high hole mobility, high on-state current density, strong mechanical strength, thermal conductivity and chemical stability in transistor tests. (scmp.com) One bottleneck in 2D chip research has been the shortage of stable, high-performance p-type materials, which carry positive charge and must pair with n-type materials inside complementary transistors. Zhu said that gap has become a major obstacle for sub-5-nanometre 2D semiconductor technology. (scmp.com) Researchers have been inching toward wafer-scale production, but speed and crystal quality have often traded off against each other. Nature Materials reported in January 2025 that its “two-dimensional Czochralski” method could rapidly grow centimetre-scale single-crystal molybdenum disulphide with no grain boundaries, while Science reported in 2025 that indium selenide wafers reached about 5 centimetres with high uniformity. (nature.com) (science.org) Nature Nanotechnology said in February 2024 that growth itself remained a central challenge for the field, even as device performance kept improving. The latest result points to the same manufacturing problem: making large, clean 2D sheets quickly enough to matter outside the lab. (nature.com)
