Will 2D Materials Play a Role in the Semiconductor Industry?

This talk will present my (biased) perspective on whether two-dimensional (2D) materials could play a role in the semiconductor industry. It is important to recognize that 2D materials are good for applications where their ultrathin nature gives them distinct advantages, such as flexible electronics [1] or light-weight solar cells [2]. They may not be good where conventional materials work sufficiently well, like transistors thicker than a few nanometers. I will focus on 2D materials for 3D heterogeneous integration of electronics, which has major advantages for energy-efficient computing [3]. Here, 2D materials could be monolayer transistors with ultralow leakage [4] (due to larger band gaps than silicon), used to access high-density memory [5]. Recent results from our group [6,7] and others [8] have shown monolayer transistors with good performance, which cannot be achieved with sub-nanometer thin conventional semiconductors, and the 2D performance could be further boosted by strain [9]. I will also describe some unconventional applications, using 2D materials as thermal insulators [10], heat spreaders [11], and thermal transistors [12]. These could enable control of heat in “thermal circuits” analogous with electrical circuits. Combined, these studies reveal fundamental limits and some key applications of 2D materials, which take advantage of their unique properties.