General synthesis of two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructure arrays

Two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHs) have attracted considerable interest^1–4. However, most vdWHs reported so far are created by an arduous micromechanical exfoliation and manual restacking process⁵, which—although versatile for proof-of-concept demonstrations^6–16 and fundamental studies^17–30—is clearly not scalable for practical technologies. Here we report a general synthetic strategy for two-dimensional vdWH arrays between metallic transition-metal dichalcogenides (m-TMDs) and semiconducting TMDs (s-TMDs). By selectively patterning nucleation sites on monolayer or bilayer s-TMDs, we precisely control the nucleation and growth of diverse m-TMDs with designable periodic arrangements and tunable lateral dimensions at the predesignated spatial locations, producing a series of vdWH arrays, including VSe₂/WSe₂, NiTe₂/WSe₂, CoTe₂/WSe₂, NbTe₂/WSe₂, VS₂/WSe₂, VSe₂/MoS₂ and VSe₂/WS₂. Systematic scanning transmission electron microscopy studies reveal nearly ideal vdW interfaces with widely tunable moiré superlattices. With the atomically clean vdW interface, we further show that the m-TMDs function as highly reliable synthetic vdW contacts for the underlying WSe₂ with excellent device performance and yield, delivering a high ON-current density of up to 900 microamperes per micrometre in bilayer WSe₂ transistors. This general synthesis of diverse two-dimensional vdWH arrays provides a versatile material platform for exploring exotic physics and promises a scalable pathway to high-performance devices.