Self-contacted 2D transition metal dichalcogenides devices and their lateral heterostructures.*

The accelerated exploration of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers proves their applicability for future digital, electronic, and optoelectronic devices. Considering all the advantages of such materials, one of the largest obstacles is the ability to controllably process the material into working devices with any scalability. Here, we report a new technique to grow self-contacted monolayer devices covering different TMDs (MoS₂, MoSe₂, WS₂, and WSe₂). In this technique, a pre-growth lithographical metallic pattern serves as a seed for the TMD material to grow around and creates an electrical contact with the 2D layers. This recent growth method improves the ability to grow high-quality monolayers on different patterns, large size devices, and different substrates. A lateral heterostructure of MoS₂/WS₂, MoSe₂/WS₂, and MoSe₂/WSe₂ as a self-connected device has been reported. Our results show excellent progress in the direction of the one-step production of multi-devices on one chip.