Sapphire as an ideal substrate and a dielectric layer for n-layer MoS2 thin films

Published

August 5, 2015

Author(s)

Arunima Singh, Francesca M. Tavazza, Albert Davydov, Richard G. Hennig

Abstract

Sapphire (α-Al2O3) is a common substrate for the growth of single- to few-layer MoS2 films, and as a high-κ dielectric gate oxide for 2D-MoS2 based transistors. Using density-functional theory calculations with a van der Waals functional we investigate the structural, energetic and electronic properties of n-layer MoS2 (n=1,3) on the α-Al2O3 (0001) surface. Our results show that the sapphire stabilizes single-layer and tri-layer MoS2, while having a negligible effect on the structure, band gap, and electron effective masses of MoS2. This combination of a strong energetic stabilization and weak perturbation of the electronic properties shows that sapphire can serve as an ideal substrate for depositing ultra-thin MoS2 layers and can also serve as a passivation or gate oxide layer for MoS2 based devices

Citation

Applied Physics Letters

Volume

107

Issue

5

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4928179

Keywords

Density functional theory, two-dimensional, single-layer MoS2, field-effect transistors, growth, doping, mobility

Citation

Singh, A. , Tavazza, F. , Davydov, A. and Hennig, R. (2015), Sapphire as an ideal substrate and a dielectric layer for n-layer MoS2 thin films, Applied Physics Letters, [online], https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4928179 (Accessed October 16, 2025)