Van der Waals Encapsulation by Ultrathin Oxide for Air-Sensitive 2D Materials

The ambient stability is one of the focal points for applications of 2D materials, especially for those well-known air-sensitive ones, such as black phosphorus (BP) and transitional metal telluride. Traditional methods of encapsulation, such as atomic layer deposition of oxides and heterogeneous integration of hexagonal boron nitride, can hardly avoid removal of encapsulation layer when the 2D materials are encapsulated for further device fabrication, which causes complexity and damage during the procedure. Here, a van der Waals encapsulation method that allows direct device fabrication without removal of encapsulation layer is introduced using Ga2O3 from liquid gallium. Taking advantage of the robust isolation ability against ambient environment of the dense native oxide of gallium, hundreds of times longer retention time of (opto)electronic properties of encapsulated BP and MoTe2 devices is realized than unencapsulated devices. Due to the ultrathin high-kappa properties of Ga2O3, top-gated devices are directly fabricated with the encapsulation layer, simultaneously as a dielectric layer. This direct device fabrication is realized by selective etching of Ga2O3, leaving the encapsulated materials intact. Encapsulated 1T' MoTe2 exhibits high conductivity even after 150 days in ambient environment. This method is, therefore, highlighted as a promising and distinctive one compared with traditional passivation approaches. The native oxide of liquid gallium is used as van der Waals encapsulation layer for the protection of air-sensitive two-dimensional materials in ambient environment. The facile selective etching endows it with the ability of direct device fabrication without removal of encapsulation. Robust encapsulation ability is demonstrated with black phosphorus and molybdenum ditelluride, while dual-gate device can be fabricated without decapsulation. image