Effect of post-annealing on sputtered MoS₂ films

Typical routes for fabricating MoS₂-based electronic devices rely on the transfer of as-prepared flakes to target substrates, which is incompatible with conventional device fabrication methods. In this work we investigated the preparation of MoS₂ films by magnetron sputtering. By subjecting room-temperature sputtered MoS₂ films to post-annealing at mild conditions (450 °C in a nitrogen flow), crystalline MoS₂ films were formed. To demonstrate the compatibility of the technique with typical device fabrication processes, MoS₂ was prepared on epitaxial magnetic oxide films of La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃, and the magnetic behavior of the films were unaffected by the post-annealing process. This work demonstrates the possibility of fabricating electronic and spintronic devices based on continuous MoS₂ films prepared by sputtering deposition.