Nanoimprint strain-engineering of 2D semiconductors

Jannis Bensmann; Robert Schmidt; Robert Schneider; Johannes Kern; Paul Steeger; Mohammad Adnan; Steffen Michaelis de Vasconcellos; Rudolf Bratschitsch

arXiv · 2212.11873

Nanoimprint strain-engineering of 2D semiconductors

Jannis Bensmann·Robert Schmidt·Robert Schneider·Johannes Kern·Paul Steeger·Mohammad Adnan·Steffen Michaelis de Vasconcellos·Rudolf Bratschitsch

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Abstract

Mechanical strain is a powerful tool to tune the optical and optoelectronic properties of atomically thin semiconductors. Inhomogeneous strain plays an important role in exciton funneling and the activation of single-photon emitters in 2D materials. Here, we create an inhomogeneous strain profile in a 2D semiconductor on a micrometer scale by a nanoimprint process. We present a nanoimprint setup, where a mold is used to apply pressure in a controlled way to a WS2 monolayer on a heated polymer layer. After printing, the strain created in the 2D semiconductor is verified by hyperspectral optical imaging. The developed nanoimprint technique is scalable and could be transferred to commercial nanoimprint machines.

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Jannis Bensmann, Robert Schmidt, Robert Schneider, Johannes Kern, Paul Steeger, Mohammad Adnan, Steffen Michaelis de Vasconcellos, Rudolf Bratschitsch. 2022-12-22. Nanoimprint strain-engineering of 2D semiconductors. https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.11873

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