Automated processing and transfer of two-dimensional materials with robotics

Abstract

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has enabled two-dimensional (2D) materials and their heterostructures to become promising material platforms for next-generation electronics and photonic devices. However, the robust processing of 2D materials produced by CVD is currently hindered by the lack of a scalable and reliable technique to transfer materials from their growth substrates to target substrates for end applications. Here we introduced an automated system to enable the transfer of CVD-grown 2D materials with robotics by engineering the interfacial adhesion and strain. The developed automated transfer system shows industrial compatibility, as demonstrated by the high production capability (up to 180 wafers per day), reliable transfer quality (with transferred graphene carrier mobilities over 14,000 cm2 V−1 s−1), and high uniformity and repeatability of the transferred materials. The developed system also outperforms conventional manual transfer methods in terms of minimizing cost and environmental impact. This automated system could accelerate the research and commercialization of 2D materials in the future. Robust, high-throughput processing of two-dimensional materials produced by chemical vapor deposition requires a reliable and scalable technique to transfer the materials to a target substrate. An automated system for transferring chemical-vapor-deposited two-dimensional materials using robotics is developed, demonstrating high production capability with uniformity and repeatability of the transferred materials.