Noninvasive Deterministic Nanostructures Lithography on 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

The coupling of nanostructures with emerging 2D semiconductors is gaining significant interest thanks to the unique features of these hybrids systems, which make them key platforms for next-generation applications in electronics, optoelectronics, and sensing. Top-down lithographic approaches uniquely enable the fully deterministic high-resolution fabrication of nanostructures, but some of them, like electron-beam lithography and focused ion-beam lithography, employ energetic particles that may damage 2D materials causing an unwanted loss of functionality. Herein thermal scanning probe lithography is applied for the realization of metallic nanoantennas directly on top of exfoliated 2D MoS2 flakes, showing it can avoid the degradation of this delicate substrate. It is shown that the morphologic and optical features of MoS2 are fully preserved after the lithography.