Thermal engineering of interface adhesion for efficient transfer of CVD-grown TMDs

The numerous advantages of growing two-dimensional materials via chemical vapor deposition have ignited increasing interest within both industrial and academic communities. However, transferring large, defect-free areas remains a significant challenge to fully realize their technological potential. Various methods either exploit specific characteristics of a material, are technically complex, or require expensive equipment. Here, we present a method that simplifies and enhances transfer versatility, addressing the cost-effectiveness, adaptability, and yield limitations of conventional methods. Our approach leverages gentle heating of the substrate to weaken the adhesion between the two-dimensional material and the substrate. The role of thermal fluctuations is described by a theoretical model based on the elastic properties of the material and the interface adhesion energy. Our method works for three of the most common materials and scales up to mm 2 . Comparison of optical properties between transferred and as-grown material confirms the quality of our dry transfer method.