Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 12 hrs ago
Researchers control where 2D semiconductor crystals grow
Researchers at KAIST and South Korean startup TDS Innovation have developed a way to control where crystals of a thin semiconductor begin growing.
These materials are being studied for future transistors, but crystals often start at random points and form boundaries that can reduce electrical performance.
The new process uses oxygen from an oxide barrier to prevent crystals from starting in most of a patterned area, leaving the center as the growth point.
The team built working transistors with the material and reported higher charge-carrier mobility than previously reported for selectively grown molybdenum disulfide transistors.
In a test across a two-centimeter substrate, single crystals formed at 397 of 400 patterned sites.
This result suggests the process could help make devices more uniform, but it does not show that the method is ready for commercial chip production.
The team aims to enable commercial use around 2030, with timing dependent on further validation.
Researchers have demonstrated a process that controls where two-dimensional semiconductor crystals begin growing.
The technique uses oxygen released from an oxide barrier to suppress crystal formation except at the center of each patterned region.
The team used the process to make working field-effect transistors and reported higher charge-carrier mobility than previously reported for selectively grown MoS₂ transistors.
In a test across a two-centimeter substrate, single crystals formed at 397 of 400 patterned sites, a yield of 99.3 percent.
The researchers say the results could help address a manufacturing obstacle, but the work does not demonstrate commercial chip production.
- Who
- Researchers including members of KAIST and South Korean startup TDS Innovation.
- What
- They demonstrated a process to control where 2D semiconductor crystals start growing.
- When
- The study was published on October 7. The article was published on October 11, 2026.
- Where
- Not stated
- Why
- To address an obstacle to manufacturing 2D semiconductor devices at scale by reducing unwanted crystal formation and boundaries.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Building on this ability to control where crystal growth begins, we will form high-quality 2D single crystals uniformly where we want them and develop it into a next-generation semiconductor process that brings logic and memory closer together
We are aiming to enable commercial use of 2D semiconductors around 2030.
We believe accelerating demand from AI, including physical AI and robotics, could help bring adoption forward, although production timing will depend on further validation.
The study on spatially deterministic nucleation of 2D semiconductors was published in Nature.
The Register published its report on the researchers’ crystal-growth process.
- Crystal sites
- Single crystals formed at 397 of 400 patterned sites
- Yield
- 99.3 percent
- Substrate
- Two centimeters
- Technology
- Etching-flux-mediated single-centred nucleation (EF-SCN)
- Target material
- Molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂)
- Commercial-use target
- Around 2030
Sources
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