CVD Equipment Corp of Central Islip, NY, USA (a designer and maker of equipment for developing and manufacturing electronic components, materials and coatings for research and industrial applications) is entering into an industrial partnership with Penn State University.
Through the US National Science Foundation's Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) program, Penn State University (PSU) has been awarded $1.96m for the project Two-dimensional Atomic-layer Research and Engineering (2-DARE). Headed by professor Joan Redwing, the project will leverage CVD Equipment Corp's engineering and manufacturing capabilities to advance the deposition technologies and processes for producing novel 2D materials beyond graphene. The main focus will be on developing and optimizing the techniques for producing crystalline 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and tungsten diselenide (WSe2). This work should pave the way for the future production of 2D materials as they find their place in widespread industrial applications.
Over recent years, the demonstration of graphene's remarkable physical properties has led to the emerging application of graphene in many next-generation products and devices. Although there is still much work to be done to fully understand graphene, many researchers have turned their attention to other 2D materials with equally promising and often unique properties.
A host of 2D materials are hence under interdisciplinary scientific study, targeting technical advances in sectos such as semiconductor, optoelectronics, structural and environmental applications. The firm says that chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) are proving to be powerful techniques for producing these atomically thin materials, but the often home-built university lab deposition equipment is limited in the process capabilities.
