skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Van der Waals heterostructures

Journal Article · · Nature Reviews Methods Primers
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6];  [2]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [7]
  1. Inst. de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM-CSIC) (Spain)
  2. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  3. Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States); Ames Lab., Ames, IA (United States)
  4. Univ. of South Florida, Tampa, FL (United States)
  5. Beijing Inst. of Technology (China)
  6. Univ. Complutense de Madrid (Spain)
  7. Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (United States)

The integration of dissimilar materials into heterostructures has become a powerful tool for engineering interfaces and electronic structure. The advent of two-dimensional (2D) materials brought unprecedented opportunities for novel heterostructures in the form of van der Waals stacks, laterally stitched 2D layers, and more complex layered and 3D architectures. This Primer provides an overview of state-of-the-art methodologies for producing such van der Waals heterostructures, focusing on the two fundamentally different strategies, top-down deterministic assembly and bottom-up synthesis. For both approaches, successful techniques, advantages, and limitations are discussed. As important as the fabrication itself is the characterization of the resulting engineered materials, for which a range of analysis techniques covering structure, composition, and emerging functionality are highlighted. Examples of the properties of artificial van der Waals structures include optoelectronics and plasmonics, twistronics, and unique functionality arising from the generalization of van der Waals assembly from 2D- to 3D-crystalline components. Lastly, current issues of reproducibility, limitations, and opportunities for future breakthroughs in terms of enhanced homogeneity, interfacial purity, feature control, and ultimately orders of magnitude increased complexity of van der Waals heterostructures are discussed.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; Agencia Estatal de Investigación of Spain; Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; National Key Research and Development Program of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0016343; PID2019-106820RB; PID2020-118078RB-I00; 2019YFA0308000; 2018YFA0704201; 62022089; 11874405; N00014-18-1-2707; DMR-1557434; DMR-1945560
OSTI ID:
1891442
Journal Information:
Nature Reviews Methods Primers, Vol. 2, Issue 1; ISSN 2662-8449
Publisher:
Springer NatureCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (196)

Spatially Graded Millimeter Sized Mo1–xWxS2 Monolayer Alloys: Synthesis and Memory Effect journal September 2021
Mechanism of Gold-Assisted Exfoliation of Centimeter-Sized Transition-Metal Dichalcogenide Monolayers journal September 2018
Germanium Sulfide Nano-Optics Probed by STEM-Cathodoluminescence Spectroscopy journal June 2018
Acoustic terahertz graphene plasmons revealed by photocurrent nanoscopy journal October 2016
One-pot growth of two-dimensional lateral heterostructures via sequential edge-epitaxy journal January 2018
Photoresponse of Natural van der Waals Heterostructures journal May 2017
Supertwisted spirals of layered materials enabled by growth on non-Euclidean surfaces journal October 2020
Epitaxial graphene on ruthenium journal April 2008
Multilayer MoS 2 transistors enabled by a facile dry-transfer technique and thermal annealing
  • Yang, Rui; Zheng, Xuqian; Wang, Zenghui
  • Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena, Vol. 32, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4898117
journal November 2014
Recent progress in the assembly of nanodevices and van der Waals heterostructures by deterministic placement of 2D materials journal January 2018
Exfoliation of natural van der Waals heterostructures to a single unit cell thickness journal February 2017
Mechanical Decoupling of Graphene from Ru(0001) by Interfacial Reaction with Oxygen journal March 2013
Thermal activated rotation of graphene flake on graphene journal February 2017
Evidence for a fractional fractal quantum Hall effect in graphene superlattices journal December 2015
Two-Step Growth of Two-Dimensional WSe 2 /MoSe 2 Heterostructures journal August 2015
Naturally occurring van der Waals materials journal October 2020
Imaging Anisotropic Waveguide Exciton Polaritons in Tin Sulfide journal February 2022
Moiré heterostructures as a condensed-matter quantum simulator journal February 2021
Evidence for moiré excitons in van der Waals heterostructures journal February 2019
Monodisperse SnS 2 Nanosheets for High-Performance Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation journal December 2014
Electroluminescence and Photocurrent Generation from Atomically Sharp WSe 2 /MoS 2 Heterojunction p–n Diodes journal September 2014
Cross-sectional imaging of individual layers and buried interfaces of graphene-based heterostructures and superlattices journal July 2012
Probing and pushing the limit of emerging electronic materials via van der Waals integration journal June 2021
Continuous formation and faceting of SiGe islands on Si(100) journal May 2003
Electron-Beam Induced Transformations of Layered Tin Dichalcogenides journal June 2016
Scanning probe microscopy journal May 2021
Lateral epitaxial growth of two-dimensional layered semiconductor heterojunctions journal September 2014
Synthetic Engineering of Morphology and Electronic Band Gap in Lateral Heterostructures of Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides journal May 2020
Strongly adhesive dry transfer technique for van der Waals heterostructure journal September 2020
Simple Approach for High-Contrast Optical Imaging and Characterization of Graphene-Based Sheets journal December 2007
Screw Dislocations in Thin Rods journal February 1953
2D materials and van der Waals heterostructures journal July 2016
The physics and chemistry of the Schottky barrier height journal January 2014
Atomically Thin MoS2 A New Direct-Gap Semiconductor journal September 2010
van der Waals Heterostructures with High Accuracy Rotational Alignment journal February 2016
Symmetry breaking in twisted double bilayer graphene journal September 2020
Self-organized twist-heterostructures via aligned van der Waals epitaxy and solid-state transformations journal December 2019
An efficient route to prepare suspended monolayer for feasible optical and electronic characterizations of two‐dimensional materials journal December 2021
Boron nitride substrates for high-quality graphene electronics journal August 2010
Polymorphism in Post-Dichalcogenide Two-Dimensional Materials journal February 2021
Tunable correlated states and spin-polarized phases in twisted bilayer–bilayer graphene journal May 2020
Bandgap Engineering in 2D Lateral Heterostructures of Transition Metal Dichalcogenides via Controlled Alloying journal January 2022
Direct Measurement of the Tunable Electronic Structure of Bilayer MoS 2 by Interlayer Twist journal January 2016
Ultrathin Twisted Germanium Sulfide van der Waals Nanowires by Bismuth Catalyzed Vapor–Liquid–Solid Growth journal October 2021
Correlated states in twisted double bilayer graphene journal March 2020
The hot pick-up technique for batch assembly of van der Waals heterostructures journal June 2016
Chemical vapour deposition journal January 2021
Resonantly hybridized excitons in moiré superlattices in van der Waals heterostructures journal March 2019
SiGe Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors and Circuits Toward Terahertz Communication Applications journal October 2004
Probing nano-heterogeneity and aging effects in lateral 2D heterostructures using tip-enhanced photoluminescence journal January 2019
Lateral heterojunctions within monolayer MoSe2–WSe2 semiconductors journal August 2014
Light-emitting diodes by band-structure engineering in van der Waals heterostructures journal February 2015
Graphene and boron nitride lateral heterostructures for atomically thin circuitry journal August 2012
Multiflat Bands and Strong Correlations in Twisted Bilayer Boron Nitride: Doping-Induced Correlated Insulator and Superconductor journal July 2019
Gold-Mediated Exfoliation of Ultralarge Optoelectronically-Perfect Monolayers journal March 2016
Highly confined low-loss plasmons in graphene–boron nitride heterostructures journal December 2014
One-dimensional flat bands in twisted bilayer germanium selenide journal February 2020
Correlated electronic phases in twisted bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides journal June 2020
Buckled Silicene Formation on Ir(111) journal January 2013
Momentum-space indirect interlayer excitons in transition-metal dichalcogenide van der Waals heterostructures journal April 2018
High-frequency self-aligned graphene transistors with transferred gate stacks journal July 2012
Graphene Thickness Determination Using Reflection and Contrast Spectroscopy journal September 2007
Quantum Hall effect and Landau-level crossing of Dirac fermions in trilayer graphene journal June 2011
Hofstadter’s butterfly and the fractal quantum Hall effect in moiré superlattices journal May 2013
Layer-by-layer assembly of two-dimensional materials into wafer-scale heterostructures journal September 2017
Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films journal October 2004
Exfoliation of large-area transition metal chalcogenide single layers journal October 2015
Purely in-plane ferroelectricity in monolayer SnS at room temperature journal May 2020
Microscopy of Graphene Growth, Processing, and Properties journal April 2013
Recent Advances in Two-Dimensional Materials with Charge Density Waves: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications journal October 2017
High-order superlattices by rolling up van der Waals heterostructures journal March 2021
Observation of moiré excitons in WSe2/WS2 heterostructure superlattices journal February 2019
Nanoscale Integration of Two-Dimensional Materials by Lateral Heteroepitaxy journal July 2014
Bilayer Lateral Heterostructures of Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides and Their Optoelectronic Response journal September 2019
Raman Spectral Band Oscillations in Large Graphene Bubbles journal May 2018
Laterally Stitched Heterostructures of Transition Metal Dichalcogenide: Chemical Vapor Deposition Growth on Lithographically Patterned Area journal November 2016
Few-Layer to Multilayer Germanium(II) Sulfide: Synthesis, Structure, Stability, and Optoelectronics journal July 2019
Tailored Plasmons in Pentacene/Graphene Heterostructures with Interlayer Electron Transfer journal August 2019
Tunable spin-polarized correlated states in twisted double bilayer graphene journal July 2020
One-Dimensional Electrical Contact to a Two-Dimensional Material journal October 2013
Candela‐class high‐brightness InGaN/AlGaN double‐heterostructure blue‐light‐emitting diodes journal March 1994
The Optical Visibility of Graphene:  Interference Colors of Ultrathin Graphite on SiO 2 journal September 2007
Van der Waals integration before and beyond two-dimensional materials journal March 2019
A high-mobility electron gas at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterointerface journal January 2004
Growth Mechanisms of Anisotropic Layered Group IV Chalcogenides on van der Waals Substrates for Energy Conversion Applications journal May 2018
Coherent, atomically thin transition-metal dichalcogenide superlattices with engineered strain journal March 2018
Electronic Structure of Few-Layer Epitaxial Graphene on Ru(0001) journal July 2009
Oxygen-activated growth and bandgap tunability of large single-crystal bilayer graphene journal February 2016
Optical nano-imaging of gate-tunable graphene plasmons journal June 2012
Hofstadter Butterfly and Many-Body Effects in Epitaxial Graphene Superlattice journal March 2016
Gate-tuning of graphene plasmons revealed by infrared nano-imaging journal June 2012
High-Performance Top-Gated Graphene-Nanoribbon Transistors Using Zirconium Oxide Nanowires as High-Dielectric-Constant Gate Dielectrics journal March 2010
High-yield exfoliation of 2D semiconductor monolayers and reassembly of organic/inorganic artificial superlattices journal July 2021
Charge-Transfer Plasmon Polaritons at Graphene/α-RuCl 3 Interfaces journal November 2020
A system for the deterministic transfer of 2D materials under inert environmental conditions journal February 2020
Approaching the Schottky–Mott limit in van der Waals metal–semiconductor junctions journal May 2018
Programmable devices based on reversible solid-state doping of two-dimensional semiconductors with superionic silver iodide journal September 2020
Magnetic 2D materials and heterostructures journal May 2019
Reliable Exfoliation of Large-Area High-Quality Flakes of Graphene and Other Two-Dimensional Materials journal September 2015
Van der Waals epitaxy—a new epitaxial growth method for a highly lattice-mismatched system journal August 1992
Single-layer MoS2 transistors journal January 2011
Thermally Induced Graphene Rotation on Hexagonal Boron Nitride journal March 2016
Monolayer atomic crystal molecular superlattices journal March 2018
A transfer technique for high mobility graphene devices on commercially available hexagonal boron nitride journal December 2011
Interlayer valley excitons in heterobilayers of transition metal dichalcogenides journal August 2018
Contacting organic molecules by metal evaporation journal January 2004
Spatially composition-modulated two-dimensional WS 2x Se 2(1−x) nanosheets journal January 2017
Plasmons in graphene moiré superlattices journal September 2015
Robotic four-dimensional pixel assembly of van der Waals solids journal January 2022
Epitaxial growth of single-domain graphene on hexagonal boron nitride journal July 2013
Graphene acoustic plasmon resonator for ultrasensitive infrared spectroscopy journal February 2019
Absence of Ferromagnetism or Antiferromagnetism in One- or Two-Dimensional Isotropic Heisenberg Models journal November 1966
Robotic assembly of artificial nanomaterials journal May 2018
Nucleation of misfit dislocations in strained‐layer epitaxy in the Ge x Si 1− x /Si system journal July 1989
Unconventional superconductivity in magic-angle graphene superlattices journal March 2018
Kinetic pathway in Stranski-Krastanov growth of Ge on Si(001) journal August 1990
Cathodoluminescence of Ultrathin Twisted Ge 1– x Sn x S van der Waals Nanoribbon Waveguides journal December 2020
Moiré Intralayer Excitons in a MoSe 2 /MoS 2 Heterostructure journal November 2018
Robust epitaxial growth of two-dimensional heterostructures, multiheterostructures, and superlattices journal August 2017
Evidence of a gate-tunable Mott insulator in a trilayer graphene moiré superlattice journal January 2019
Signatures of moiré-trapped valley excitons in MoSe2/WSe2 heterobilayers journal February 2019
van der Waals Integrated Devices Based on Nanomembranes of 3D Materials journal January 2020
Fundamental limits to graphene plasmonics journal May 2018
Electronic Properties of Graphene Encapsulated with Different Two-Dimensional Atomic Crystals journal May 2014
Wrap‐Around Core–Shell Heterostructures of Layered Crystals journal May 2019
Van der Waals superlattices journal September 2021
Deterministic transfer of two-dimensional materials by all-dry viscoelastic stamping journal April 2014
Patterned arrays of lateral heterojunctions within monolayer two-dimensional semiconductors journal July 2015
Phase patterning for ohmic homojunction contact in MoTe2 journal August 2015
Probing photoelectrical transport in lead halide perovskites with van der Waals contacts journal July 2020
GexSi1−x/Si strained‐layer superlattice grown by molecular beam epitaxy
  • Bean, J. C.; Feldman, L. C.; Fiory, A. T.
  • Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Vol. 2, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.572361
journal April 1984
Macroscopic self-reorientation of interacting two-dimensional crystals journal March 2016
Two-Dimensional SnS: A Phosphorene Analogue with Strong In-Plane Electronic Anisotropy journal February 2017
Autonomous robotic searching and assembly of two-dimensional crystals to build van der Waals superlattices journal April 2018
High-  oxide nanoribbons as gate dielectrics for high mobility top-gated graphene transistors journal March 2010
Disassembling 2D van der Waals crystals into macroscopic monolayers and reassembling into artificial lattices journal February 2020
Recent Progress on Two-Dimensional Materials journal January 2021
Atomically thin p–n junctions with van der Waals heterointerfaces journal August 2014
Vapor–Liquid–Solid Growth and Optoelectronics of Gallium Sulfide van der Waals Nanowires journal May 2020
Tin Disulfide—An Emerging Layered Metal Dichalcogenide Semiconductor: Materials Properties and Device Characteristics journal September 2014
Chemical Vapor Deposition Growth of Two-Dimensional Compound Materials: Controllability, Material Quality, and Growth Mechanism journal December 2020
Few-layer tin sulfide (SnS): Controlled synthesis, thickness dependent vibrational properties, and ferroelectricity journal April 2021
Experimental observation of the quantum Hall effect and Berry's phase in graphene journal November 2005
Direct Measurement of the Thickness-Dependent Electronic Band Structure of MoS 2 Using Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy journal September 2013
High-speed graphene transistors with a self-aligned nanowire gate journal September 2010
Interface Formation in Monolayer Graphene-Boron Nitride Heterostructures journal January 2012
Multilayer Lateral Heterostructures of Van Der Waals Crystals with Sharp, Carrier–Transparent Interfaces journal November 2021
Nanoparticle-Templated Thickness Controlled Growth, Thermal Stability, and Decomposition of Ultrathin Tin Sulfide Plates journal March 2019
Gate-tunable room-temperature ferromagnetism in two-dimensional Fe3GeTe2 journal October 2018
Mott and generalized Wigner crystal states in WSe2/WS2 moiré superlattices journal March 2020
Probing the ultimate plasmon confinement limits with a van der Waals heterostructure journal April 2018
Three-dimensional electron-hole superfluidity in a superlattice close to room temperature journal August 2020
Direct Observation of Graphene Growth and Associated Copper Substrate Dynamics by in Situ Scanning Electron Microscopy journal January 2015
Vertical Chemical Vapor Deposition Growth of Highly Uniform 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenides journal April 2020
Photonic crystals for nano-light in moiré graphene superlattices journal December 2018
Epitaxial growth of a monolayer WSe2-MoS2 lateral p-n junction with an atomically sharp interface journal July 2015
Van der Waals heterostructures journal July 2013
Vertical and in-plane heterostructures from WS2/MoS2 monolayers journal September 2014
Chiral twisted van der Waals nanowires journal April 2019
Approaching the intrinsic exciton physics limit in two-dimensional semiconductor diodes journal November 2021
Van der Waals Nanowires with Continuously Variable Interlayer Twist and Twist Homojunctions journal December 2020
Simulation of Hubbard model physics in WSe2/WS2 moiré superlattices journal March 2020
An inexpensive system for the deterministic transfer of 2D materials journal January 2020
Direct Epitaxial Synthesis of Selective Two-Dimensional Lateral Heterostructures journal October 2019
Fast pick up technique for high quality heterostructures of bilayer graphene and hexagonal boron nitride journal July 2014
Lateral Heterostructures of Multilayer GeS and SnS van der Waals Crystals journal September 2020
Mechanical and liquid phase exfoliation of cylindrite: a natural van der Waals superlattice with intrinsic magnetic interactions journal May 2019
Wedging Transfer of Nanostructures journal May 2010
Moire bands in twisted double-layer graphene journal July 2011
Correlated insulator behaviour at half-filling in magic-angle graphene superlattices journal March 2018
Surface Passivation by Excess Sulfur for Controlled Synthesis of Large, Thin SnS Flakes journal September 2020
Massive Dirac Fermions and Hofstadter Butterfly in a van der Waals Heterostructure journal May 2013
Quantum Cascade Laser journal April 1994
Layered Intercalation Materials journal May 2021
Tuning superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene journal January 2019
Superconducting Interfaces Between Insulating Oxides journal August 2007
Optoelectronics and Nanophotonics of Vapor–Liquid–Solid Grown GaSe van der Waals Nanoribbons journal May 2021
Photovoltaic Effect in an Electrically Tunable van der Waals Heterojunction journal July 2014
Edge-Epitaxial Growth of 2D NbS 2 -WS 2 Lateral Metal-Semiconductor Heterostructures journal August 2018
Laser-Assisted Chemical Modification of Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides journal July 2018
Evolution of Electronic Structure in Atomically Thin Sheets of WS 2 and WSe 2 journal December 2012
Electrically pumped continuous-wave III–V quantum dot lasers on silicon journal March 2016
Lateral Growth of Composition Graded Atomic Layer MoS 2(1– x ) Se 2 x Nanosheets journal April 2015
General synthesis of two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructure arrays journal March 2020
Emergence of superlattice Dirac points in graphene on hexagonal boron nitride journal March 2012
Universal mechanical exfoliation of large-area 2D crystals journal May 2020
Van der Waals epitaxial growth and optoelectronics of large-scale WSe2/SnS2 vertical bilayer p–n junctions journal December 2017
Accessing valley degree of freedom in bulk Tin(II) sulfide at room temperature journal April 2018
Franckeite as a naturally occurring van der Waals heterostructure journal February 2017
Naturally occurring van der Waals heterostructure lengenbachite with strong in-plane structural and optical anisotropy journal November 2021
Evolution of interlayer coupling in twisted molybdenum disulfide bilayers journal September 2014
Hetero-site nucleation for growing twisted bilayer graphene with a wide range of twist angles journal April 2021
In situ edge engineering in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides journal May 2018
Resonant terahertz detection using graphene plasmons journal December 2018
Few-layer molybdenum disulfide transistors and circuits for high-speed flexible electronics journal October 2014
Two-dimensional materials with piezoelectric and ferroelectric functionalities journal June 2018

Similar Records

Moiré engineering in van der Waals heterostructures
Journal Article · Mon Sep 26 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Journal of Applied Physics · OSTI ID:1891442

Multilayer Lateral Heterostructures of Van Der Waals Crystals with Sharp, Carrier–Transparent Interfaces
Journal Article · Tue Nov 23 00:00:00 EST 2021 · Advanced Science · OSTI ID:1891442

Photonics in Multimaterial Lateral Heterostructures Combining Group IV Chalcogenide van der Waals Semiconductors
Journal Article · Wed Dec 06 00:00:00 EST 2023 · Small · OSTI ID:1891442