Professor Ellad Tadmor and researchers find new way to manipulate properties of ultrathin semiconductors

A team of University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers has discovered a new way to easily manipulate and control the properties of two-dimensional sheets of an important class of semiconducting materials that could be used to design next-generation electronic devices.

Using a simple “holey” base, called a substrate, the team was able to create periodic structural patterns in ultrathin crystals of molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂), a promising material for advanced electronics applications. They found that crystals only a few atoms thick adhered strongly to the substrate and precisely matched its three-dimensional shape. They also found that the crystals were significantly stretched over the holes, much like a drumhead.   Read more