Building next-generation semiconductors and low-power electronic devices requires precisely stacking materials with different functions. In this process, it is essential to preserve each material’s intrinsic properties, as well as the interface where the two materials meet, without damage. Layered van der Waals materials, including transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), have attracted considerable attention as next-generation semiconductor platforms because their layers interact through weak forces, enabling different materials to be stacked while maintaining atomically clean interfaces.
A research team led by Professor Joonki Suh from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at KAIST, in collaboration with Professor Bonggeun Shong’s team at Hanyang University and Professor Yimo Han’s team at Rice University in the United States, have developed a new semiconductor manufacturing technique based on atomic layer deposition (ALD). ALD is a thin-film deposition process in which semiconductor precursors are supplied sequentially, enabling uniform thin films to be deposited with atomic-level control over their thickness. The paper is published in Science Advances.
The research team focused on van der Waals materials. These two-dimensional semiconductor materials consist of multiple atomic layers held together by weak interlayer forces, allowing them to be peeled apart into sheets as thin as paper. Because different materials can be freely stacked, van der Waals materials are attracting attention as key building blocks for next-generation AI chips and ultra-low-power semiconductor devices.
