Growth mechanism of largescale MoS2 monolayer by sulfurization of MoO3 film

Monolayer two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) such as MoS2 with broken inversion symmetry possesses two degenerate yet inequivalent valleys that can be selectively excited by circularly polarized light. This unique property renders interesting valley physics. The ability to manipulate valley degrees of freedom with light or external field makes them attractive for optoelectronic and spintronic applications. There is great demand for large area monolayer (ML) TMDCs for certain measurements and device applications. Recent reports on large area ML TDMCs focus on chemical vapor deposition growth. In this work, we report a facile approach to grow largescale continuous ML MoS2 nearly free of overgrowth and voids, by sulfurizing evaporated molybdenum trioxide ultrathin films. Photo conductivity scales with device sizes up to 4.5 mm, suggesting excellent film uniformity. The growth mechanism is found to be vaporization, diffusion, sulfurization and lateral growth, all at local micrometer scale. Our approach provides a new pathway for large-area ML TMDC growth and lithography-free device fabrication.