In a significant development for the semiconductor industry, a new review paper from the "Shuang-Qing Forum" has provided a comprehensive overview of the advancements and strategic roadmap for two-dimensional materials. This collective effort, led by prominent Chinese scholars, outlines the transition of 2D materials from basic research to industrial development, underscoring the critical role of dedicated tools, AI, and academia-industry collaboration in driving this technological revolution.
Over the past seven decades, the semiconductor industry has been a driving force behind technological advancements, with continuous miniaturization and performance improvements. The pursuit of Moore's Law has led to the exploration of novel materials and geometries, among which 2D materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides, TMDs, have emerged as potential candidates for next-generation transistors based on atomically thin channels.
The review paper emphasizes the need for dedicated technologies and tools to meet industrial standards for 2D materials. It highlights the importance of material growth, characterization, and circuit design, setting the stage for a collaborative effort between academia and industry to drive the next decade of 2D material research.
The roadmap outlined in the paper covers several key areas. In terms of materials, the focus is on scaling up production with precision, addressing the challenge of material defects, and developing larger single crystals with precise defect control. The cultivation of p/n-type materials that match silicon's performance is also a primary direction for future advancement.
Characterization techniques have reached sub-atomic resolution levels, meeting the demands of 2D materials. The integration of AI tools is considered vital for standardized and refined assessment criteria, ensuring accuracy and efficiency in analyzing experimental metadata.
In the realm of electronic devices, 2D semiconductor devices are progressing towards performance metrics that rival silicon-based devices. Future advancements will focus on foundational technologies such as HKMG integration and controllable doping, with an emphasis on optimizing performance, power consumption, and area.
Effective thermal management and reduction of RC delays are critical in semiconductor devices. The use of materials with a lower dielectric constant and the integration of 2D materials like hexagonal boron nitride, h-BN, and graphene are set to enhance performance and reliability.
The future of integrated circuits based on 2D semiconductors is moving towards 3D integration, leveraging the advantages of 2D semiconductors for monolithic 3D heterogeneous integration to enhance chip-level energy efficiency and functionality. Optoelectronic integration is also poised to become a pivotal direction in high-throughput information technologies, with the synthesis of large-scale, high-quality single crystals and the advancement of multifunctional integrated devices being key to this future trajectory.
