Investigations of vapour-phase deposited transition metal dichalcogenide films for future electronic applications

Two-dimensional (2D) transitional metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are of major interest to the research and electrical engineering community. A number of TMDs are semiconducting and have a wide range of bandgaps, they can exhibit n- or p-type behaviour, and the electronic structure changes with the number of layers. These exceptional properties hold much promise for a host of electrical applications including low- or high power field-effect transistors, sensors and diodes. Moreover, the unique optical properties of TMDs make them attractive for optoelectronic applications such as light-emitting diodes, photodiodes, and photovoltaic cells. A prerequisite for all of these applications is a synthesis route which is well controlled, scalable, reproducible and compatible with semiconductor industry process flows. Thermally assisted conversion (TAC), a variant of chemical vapour deposition, shows much promise for meeting these requirements. Herein we review the current progress and challenges of research on 2D semiconducting materials for electronics with a special focus on TAC produced TMD thin films.