Premium
Preventing Thin Film Dewetting via Graphene Capping
Author(s) -
Cao Peigen,
Bai Peter,
Omrani Arash A.,
Xiao Yihan,
Meaker Kacey L.,
Tsai HsinZon,
Yan Aiming,
Jung Han Sae,
Khajeh Ramin,
Rodgers Griffin F.,
Kim Youngkyou,
Aikawa Andrew S.,
Kolaczkowski Mattew A.,
Liu Yi,
Zettl Alex,
Xu Ke,
Crommie Michael F.,
Xu Ting
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201701536
Subject(s) - dewetting , materials science , monolayer , graphene , polystyrene , thin film , nanotechnology , polymer , semiconductor , optoelectronics , layer (electronics) , composite material
A monolayer 2D capping layer with high Young's modulus is shown to be able to effectively suppress the dewetting of underlying thin films of small organic semiconductor molecule, polymer, and polycrystalline metal, respectively. To verify the universality of this capping layer approach, the dewetting experiments are performed for single‐layer graphene transferred onto polystyrene (PS), semiconducting thienoazacoronene (EH‐TAC), gold, and also MoS 2 on PS. Thermodynamic modeling indicates that the exceptionally high Young's modulus and surface conformity of 2D capping layers such as graphene and MoS 2 substantially suppress surface fluctuations and thus dewetting. As long as the uncovered area is smaller than the fluctuation wavelength of the thin film in a dewetting process via spinodal decomposition, the dewetting should be suppressed. The 2D monolayer‐capping approach opens up exciting new possibilities to enhance the thermal stability and expands the processing parameters for thin film materials without significantly altering their physical properties.