Large-area epitaxial growth of 2D ZrS2(1−x)Se2x semiconductor alloys with fully tunable compositions and bandgaps for optoelectronics

• Published in: Science China materials 2023-05, Vol.66 (5), p.1870-1878
• Main Authors: Huang, Jidong, Tian, Yan, Cheng, Yong, Li, Xingxing, Zhang, Siyu, Jiang, Ji, Chen, Jingren, Wang, Gaokai, Li, Jingzhen, Yin, Zhigang, Zhang, Xingwang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alloys; Bowing; Chemical vapor deposition; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chemistry/Food Science; Composition; Energy gap; Epitaxial growth; Materials Science; Optoelectronic devices; Sapphire; Semiconductor materials; Substrates; Transition metal compounds
• ISSN: 2095-8226; 2199-4501
• DOI: 10.1007/s40843-022-2297-1

Bandgap engineering of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) is significant for broadening their applications in electronics and optoelectronics devices. Herein, we report the new epitaxial growth of large-area uniform ZrS{in2(1−{itx})}Se{in2x} alloy films with fully tunable composition on sapphire substrates {itvia} a facile single-step chemical vapor deposition method. The ZrS{in2(1−{itx})}Se{in2{itx}} alloys exhibit good single crystallinity and epitaxial quality, as well as uniform elemental distribution, and the epitaxial relationship with the substrate is determined to be ZrS{in2(1−{itx})}Se{in2{itx}} (0001)[10–10]∥sapphire (0001)[11–20]. The bandgap of ZrS{in2(1−{itx})}Se{in2{itx}} alloy exhibits a pronounced bowing behavior with continuously tunable bandgaps from 1.86 to 1.15 eV, depending on the Se composition. The ZrS{in2(1−{itx})}Se{in2{itx}}-based photodetectors demonstrate a sensitive photoresponse to visible light with a fast response time of ∼100 µs, and their performances are significantly improved as the Se composition decreases. This work provides an efficient way to synthesize ZrS{in2(1−{itx})}Se{in2{itx}} alloys with fully tunable bandgaps, providing great flexibility in designing TMD-based optoelectronic devices.